Which Leonardo da Vinci invention is widely described as an early parachute design?

Leonardo da Vinci’s early parachute design was a pyramidal parachute. He described it in a manuscript sketch made around 1485, centuries before practical parachutes were developed.

The design consists of a sealed linen canopy held open by a wooden frame. Leonardo wrote that a person could jump from a great height using the device without injury, provided the structure was sufficiently wide and deep. The pyramidal shape differs from the round canopies familiar in modern parachuting.

Leonardo’s sketch was not known to have been tested in his lifetime. In 2000, British adventurer Adrian Nicholas built and tested a replica, reporting that it descended successfully, although he used a modern parachute for the final landing because of safety concerns.

The invention is often mixed up with Leonardo’s flying machines. A parachute does not create powered flight; it slows a descent by producing drag.