Pushkin

The first floor of the Eiffel Tower, almost 200 feet above the ground.

Next to the railings, a table on top of the table, a wooden chair, and standing on the wooden chair.

A man, Franz Reichelt, he places a foot on the railing.

He leans forward and hears over the edge.

The year is 1912, and Franz Reichelt is a tailor.

33 years old, bored in Austria, he moved to Paris as a teenager

and built a modestly successful business in ladies fashion.

But ladies fashion is not what excites Franz Reichelt.

He's fascinated by flight, and Reichelt has invented a parachute suit.

Reichelt looks briefly up to the heavens.

Early in the morning on the first Sunday in February, his breath forms in the air.

By 1912, parachutes are hardly a new idea.

Leonardo da Vinci drew on centuries earlier.

What is new is the fast growing market for them.

Airplanes have only just been invented and not yet very reliable.

Reichelt is convinced that his wearable parachute can save aviators lives.

With his tailoring skills, he's made, well, a letter journalist describe it.

This all silk garment, very well designed, was provided with a kind of very wide hood,

which by means of zippers would automatically expand when called upon and form above the head a vast umbrella.

Down on the ground, nearly 200 feet below, a few dozen people have got up early to watch the demonstration.

There are aviation enthusiasts, curious members of the public, and journalists from all the Paris newspapers.

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