Long before the birth of the first aircraft, frequent fires and accidents in the air with spherical balloons and balloons forced scientists to pay attention to the creation of reliable means capable of saving the lives of aircraft pilots. When airplanes flying much faster than balloons rose into the sky, a slight engine breakdown or damage to any insignificant part of a fragile and cumbersome structure led to terrible accidents, often ending in the death of people. When the number of casualties among the first pilots began to grow sharply, it became obvious that the absence of any rescue equipment for them could become a brake on the further development of aviation.
The task was technically extremely difficult, despite numerous experiments and long-term research, the scientific and design thought of Western states did not manage to create reliable protection for aeronautics. For the first time in the world, this problem was brilliantly solved by the Russian scientist-inventor Gleb Kotelnikov, who in 1911 designed the world's first parachute that fully meets the requirements for aviation rescue equipment of that time. All modern models of parachutes are created according to the basic scheme of the invention of Kotelnikov.
Gleb Evgenievich was born on January 18 (old style) 1872 in the family of a professor of higher mathematics and mechanics at the St. Petersburg Institute. Kotelnikov's parents adored the theater, were fond of painting and music, and often staged amateur performances in the house. It is not surprising that being brought up in such an environment, the boy fell in love with art, fired up with the desire to perform on stage.
Young Kotelnikov showed outstanding abilities in learning to play the piano and other musical instruments. In a short time, the talented guy mastered the mandolin, balalaika and violin, began to write music on his own. Surprisingly, along with this, Gleb was also fond of technique and fencing. The guy from birth had, as they say, "golden hands", from improvised means he could easily make an intricate device. For example, when the future inventor was only thirteen years old, he independently assembled a working camera. Moreover, he bought only a used lens, and made the rest (including photographic plates) with his own hands. The father encouraged his son's inclinations and tried to develop them to the best of his ability.
Gleb dreamed of getting into a conservatory or a technological institute, but his plans had to be drastically changed after the sudden death of his father. The family's financial situation deteriorated sharply, leaving music and theater, he volunteered for the army, enrolling in a military artillery school in Kiev. Gleb Evgenievich graduated from it in 1894 with honors, was promoted to officer and served in the army for three years. Having retired, he got a job at the provincial excise department. In early 1899, Kotelnikov married Yulia Volkova, the daughter of the artist V. A. Volkova. The young people knew each other from childhood, their marriage turned out to be happy - they lived in rare harmony for forty-five years.
For ten years Kotelnikov worked as an excise official. This stage of his life was, without exaggeration, the most empty and difficult. It was difficult to imagine a service more alien to this creative personality. The only outlet for him was the local theater, in which Gleb Evgenievich was both an actor and artistic director. Moreover, he continued to design. For workers at a local distillery, Kotelnikov developed a new model of a filling machine. I equipped my bike with a sail and used it with success on long trips.
One fine day, Kotelnikov clearly realized that he needed to drastically change his life, forget about the excise tax and move to St. Petersburg. Yulia Vasilievna, despite the fact that by that time they already had three children, she perfectly understood her spouse. A talented artist, she also had high hopes for the move. In 1910, the Kotelnikov family arrived in the Northern capital, and Gleb Evgenievich got a job in the troupe of the People's House, becoming a professional actor at the age of thirty-nine under the pseudonym Glebov-Kotelnikov.
At the beginning of the last century, demonstration flights of the first Russian pilots were often held in large cities of Russia, during which aviators demonstrated their skills in flying vehicles. Gleb Evgenievich, who loved technology from childhood, could not help but become interested in aviation. He regularly traveled to the Commandant's airfield, watching the flights with delight. Kotelnikov clearly understood what great prospects the conquest of airspace opens up for mankind. He also admired the courage and dedication of Russian pilots who soared into the sky in unstable, primitive machines.
During one "aviation week", the famous pilot Matsievich, who was flying, jumped off the seat and flew out of the car. Having lost control, the aircraft flipped several times in the air and fell to the ground after the pilot. This was the first loss of Russian aviation. Gleb Evgenievich witnessed a terrible event that made a painful impression on him. Soon, the actor and simply a talented Russian man made a firm decision - to secure the work of the pilots by building for them a special rescue device that can function flawlessly in the air.
After a while, his apartment turned into a real workshop. Coils of wire and belts, wooden beams and pieces of cloth, sheet metal and a wide variety of tools were scattered everywhere. Kotelnikov clearly understood that he had nowhere to wait for help. Who, under the conditions of that time, could seriously think that some actor would be able to invent a lifesaving device, the development of which scientists from England, Germany, France and America had been struggling to develop for several years? There was also a limited amount of funds for the upcoming work, so it was necessary to spend them extremely economically.
Gleb Evgenievich spent whole nights drawing various drawings and making models of life-saving appliances based on them. He dropped the finished copies from the launched kites or from the roofs of houses. The experiments went one after another. In between, the inventor reworked unsuccessful options and looked for new materials. Thanks to the historian of Russian aviation and aeronautics A. A. Native Kotelnikov acquired books on flying. He paid special attention to ancient documents telling about primitive devices used by people when descending from various heights. After much research, Gleb Evgenievich came to the following important conclusions: “For use on an aircraft, a light and durable parachute is required. It should be very small when folded … The main thing is that the parachute is always with the person. In this case, the pilot will be able to jump from any side or wing of the aircraft."
After a series of unsuccessful experiments, Kotelnikov accidentally saw in the theater how one lady was taking out a huge silk shawl from a small handbag. This led him to believe that fine silk might be the most suitable material for a folding parachute. The resulting model was small in volume, strong, resilient, and easy to deploy. Kotelnikov planned to place the parachute in the pilot's helmet. A special coil spring was supposed to push the rescue shell out of the helmet if necessary. And so that the lower edge quickly shaped the canopy, and the parachute could be filled with air, the inventor passed an elastic and thin metal cable through the lower edge.
Gleb Evgenievich also thought about the task of protecting the pilot from an excessive jerk at the moment of opening the parachute. Particular attention was paid to the design of the harness and the attachment of the life-saving craft to the person. The inventor correctly assumed that attaching a parachute to a person at one point (as in aeronautical spassnelli) will give an extremely strong jerk in the place where the cord will be fixed. In addition, with this method of attachment, a person will rotate in the air until the very moment of landing, which is also quite dangerous. Rejecting such a scheme, Kotelnikov developed his own, rather original solution - he divided all the parachute lines into two parts, attaching them to two hanging straps. Such a system evenly distributed the force of a dynamic impact throughout the body when the parachute was deployed, and rubber shock absorbers on the suspension straps even more softened the impact. The inventor also took into account the mechanism of quick release from the parachute after landing in order to avoid dragging a person along the ground.
Having assembled a new model, Gleb Evgenievich moved on to testing it. The parachute was attached to a dummy doll, which was then dropped from the roof. The parachute jumped out of the head helmet without hesitation, opened and smoothly lowered the dummy to the ground. The inventor's joy knew no bounds. However, when he decided to calculate the area of the dome that could withstand and successfully (at a speed of about 5 m / s) lower an eighty kilogram load to the ground, it turned out that it (the area) should have been at least fifty square meters. It turned out to be absolutely impossible to put so much silk, even if it was very light, in the pilot's helmet. However, the ingenious inventor was not upset; after much deliberation, he decided to place the parachute in a special bag worn on his back.
Having prepared all the necessary drawings for the knapsack parachute, Kotelnikov set about creating the first prototype and, at the same time, a special doll. Strenuous work went on in his house for several days. His wife helped the inventor a lot - she sat for whole nights, stitching intricately cut fabric canvases.
The parachute of Gleb Evgenievich, later named by him RK-1 (Russian-Kotelnikovsky version of the first model), consisted of a metal knapsack worn on the back, which had a special shelf inside, placed on two spiral springs. The slings were laid on the shelf, and the dome itself was already on them. The lid was hinged with internal springs for quicker opening. To open the lid, the pilot had to pull the cord, after which the springs pushed out the dome. Remembering the death of Matsievich, Gleb Evgenievich provided for a mechanism for forced opening of the knapsack. It was very simple - the knapsack lock was connected to the plane using a special cable. If the pilot, for some reason, could not pull the cord, then the safety rope had to open the knapsack for him, and then break off under the weight of the human body.
The parachute itself consisted of twenty-four canvases and had a pole hole. The lines passed through the entire canopy along radial seams and were connected twelve pieces on each suspension strap, which, in turn, were fastened with special hooks to the suspension system worn by a person and consisting of chest, shoulder and waist belts, as well as leg loops. The sling system device made it possible to control the parachute during descent.
The closer it was to the end of the work, the more nervous the scientist became. It seemed that he thought of everything, calculated everything and foresaw everything, but how will the parachute show itself on tests? In addition, Kotelnikov did not have a patent for his invention. Anyone who saw and understood its principle of action could arrogate to himself all the rights. Knowing perfectly well the customs of the foreign businessmen flooding Russia, Gleb Evgenievich tried to keep his developments secret as long as possible. When the parachute was ready, he went with it to Novgorod, choosing a remote, remote place for experiments. His son and nephews helped him in this. The parachute and dummy were raised to a height of fifty meters with the help of a huge kite, also created by the indefatigable Kotelnikov. The parachute was thrown from the knapsack by springs, the canopy quickly turned around and the dummy smoothly sank to the ground. After repeating the experiments several times, the scientist was convinced that his invention works flawlessly.
Kotelnikov understood that his device must be urgently introduced into aviation. Russian pilots had to have a reliable rescue vehicle on hand in case of an accident. Inspired by the tests carried out, he hastily returned to St. Petersburg and on August 10, 1911 wrote a detailed note to the Minister of War, beginning with the following phrase: "A long and mournful synodic of victims in aviation prompted me to invent a rather simple and useful device to prevent the death of aviators in an air accident …" … Further, the letter outlined the technical characteristics of the parachute, a description of the process of its manufacture and test results. All drawings of the device were also attached to the note. Nevertheless, the note got lost in the Military Engineering Directorate. Concerned about the lack of an answer, Gleb Evgenievich decided to personally contact the Minister of War. After long ordeals in the offices of officials, Kotelnikov finally got to the Deputy Minister of War. Having presented him with a working model of a parachute, he proved the usefulness of his invention for a long time and convincingly. The Deputy Minister of War, without honoring him with an answer, handed over a referral to the Main Military Engineering Directorate.
On October 27, 1911, Gleb Evgenievich filed an application for a patent with the Committee on Inventions, and a few days later appeared in the Engineering Castle with a note in his hands. General von Roop appointed a special commission to consider the invention of Kotelnikov, chaired by General Alexander Kovanko, who was the head of the Aeronautical Service. And here Kotelnikov suffered a major setback for the first time. In accordance with the Western theories that existed at that time, the chairman of the commission stated that the pilot should leave the aircraft only after the deployment (or simultaneously with the deployment) of the parachute. Otherwise, he will inevitably die during the jerk. In vain did the inventor explain in detail and prove to the general about his own, original way of solving this problem he had found. Kovanko stubbornly stood his ground. Not wanting to ponder Kotelnikov's mathematical calculations, the commission rejected the wonderful device, imposing a resolution "As unnecessary." Kotelnikov also did not receive a patent for his invention.
Despite this conclusion, Gleb Evgenievich did not lose heart. He managed to register the parachute in France on March 20, 1912. In addition, he firmly decided to seek official tests in his homeland. The designer convinced himself that after the demonstration of the invention, the parachute would be immediately implemented. Almost daily, he visited various departments of the War Ministry. He wrote: “As soon as everyone sees how the parachute lowers a person to the ground, they will immediately change their minds. They will understand that it is also necessary on an airplane, like a lifebuoy on a ship …”. Kotelnikov spent a lot of money and effort before he managed to get the tests carried out. The new prototype parachute cost him several hundred rubles. Lacking support from the government, Gleb Evgenievich went into debt, relations in the main service soured, since he could devote less and less time to work in the troupe.
On June 2, 1912, Kotelnikov tested the parachute for the strength of materials, and also checked the resistance force of the canopy. To do this, he attached his device to the towing hooks of the car. Having dispersed the car to 70 versts per hour (about 75 km / h), the inventor pulled the trigger cord. The parachute instantly opened, and the car was immediately stopped by the force of air resistance. The structure fully withstood, no breaks of lines or ruptures of matter were found. By the way, stopping the car made the designer think of developing an air brake for aircraft during landing. Later, he even made one prototype, but the matter did not go further. "Authoritative" minds from the Military Engineering Directorate told Kotelnikov that his next invention had no future. Many years later, the air brake was patented as a "novelty" in the United States.
The parachute test was scheduled for June 6, 1912. The venue was the village of Saluzi, located near St. Petersburg. Despite the fact that the prototype of Kotelnikov was calculated and designed specifically for the aircraft, he had to carry out the tests from the aeronautical apparatus - at the very last moment, the Military Engineering Directorate imposed a ban on experiments from the aircraft. In his memoirs, Gleb Evgenievich wrote that he made a jump dummy similar to General Alexander Kovanko - with exactly the same mustache and long tanks. The doll was attached to the side of the basket on a rope loop. After the balloon rose to a height of two hundred meters, the pilot Gorshkov cut one of the ends of the loop. The dummy separated from the basket and began to fall headlong downward. The spectators present held their breath, dozens of eyes and binoculars watched what was happening from the ground. And suddenly a white speck of the parachute formed into a canopy. “Hurray was heard and everyone ran to see the parachute descend more closely…. There was no wind, and the mannequin got up on the grass with his feet, stood there for a few seconds and then just fell. The parachute was dropped from different heights several more times, and all experiments were successful.
Monument to the test of RK-1 in Kotelnikovo
The site was attended by many pilots and balloonists, correspondents of various magazines and newspapers, foreigners who, by hook or by crook, entered the test. Everyone, even people who were incompetent in such matters, understood that this invention opened up enormous opportunities for the further conquest of the air.
The next day, most of the capital's print media came out with reports of successful tests of a new aircraft rescue shell, invented by a talented Russian designer. However, despite the general interest shown in the invention, the Military Engineering Directorate did not react in any way to the event. And when Gleb Evgenievich started talking about new tests already from a flying plane, he received a categorical refusal. Among other objections, it was argued that dropping an 80 kilogram dummy from a light aircraft would lead to loss of balance and imminent aircraft crash. Officials said they would not let the inventor risk the car "for the pleasure" of the inventor.
Only after long, exhausting persuasion and persuasion did Kotelnikov manage to get a permit for testing. Experiments on dropping a doll with a parachute from a monoplane flying at an altitude of 80 meters were successfully carried out in Gatchina on September 26, 1912. By the way, before the first test, the pilot threw sandbags in the air three times in order to make sure that the aircraft was stable. London News wrote: “Can a pilot be saved? Yes. We will tell you about the invention adopted by the Russian government …”. The British naively assumed that the tsarist government would definitely use this wonderful and necessary invention. However, not everything was so simple in reality. Successful tests still did not change the attitude of the leadership of the Military Engineering Directorate to the parachute. Moreover, a resolution came from the Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich himself, who wrote in response to a petition for the introduction of a Kotelnikov invention: “Parachutes are actually a harmful thing, since pilots will flee with them in any danger they threaten, providing vehicles to death…. We import planes from abroad and they should be protected. And we will find people, not those, so others!.
As time went. The number of aircraft accidents continued to rise. Gleb Kotelnikov, a patriot and the inventor of an advanced life-saving device, who is gravely worried about this, scribbled one after another unanswered letters to the Minister of War and the entire Aeronautical Department of the General Staff: “… they (the pilots) are dying in vain, while at the right time they could be useful sons of the Fatherland …, … I am burning with the only desire to fulfill my duty to the Motherland …, … such an attitude to a useful and important matter for me - a Russian officer - is incomprehensible and insulting."
While Kotelnikov was trying in vain to implement a parachute in his homeland, the course of events was closely watched from abroad. A lot of interested persons arrived in St. Petersburg, representing various offices and ready to "help" the author. One of them, Wilhelm Lomach, who owned several aviation workshops in St. Petersburg, suggested that the inventor open a private production of parachutes, and exclusively in Russia. Gleb Evgenievich, being in extremely difficult financial conditions, agreed to the office of "Lomach and Co." to present his invention at competitions in Paris and Rouen. And soon an enterprising foreigner received permission from the French government to perform a parachute jump of a living person. A willing person was also soon found - he was a Russian athlete and an ardent admirer of the new invention Vladimir Ossovsky, a student of the St. Petersburg Conservatory. The site chosen was a bridge over the Seine in the city of Rouen. The jump from a fifty-three meter height took place on January 5, 1913. The parachute worked flawlessly, the canopy fully opened when Ossovsky flew 34 meters. The last 19 meters, he descended for 12 seconds and landed on the water.
The French enthusiastically greeted the Russian parachutist. Many entrepreneurs tried to independently organize the production of this life-saving device. Already in 1913, the first models of parachutes began to appear abroad, which were slightly modified copies of the RK-1. Foreign companies made huge capital out of their release. Despite the pressure of the Russian public, which more and more often expressed reproaches about indifference to Kotelnikov's invention, the tsarist government stubbornly stood its ground. Moreover, for domestic pilots, a massive purchase of French parachutes of the Jükmes design, having a "one-point" attachment, was carried out.
By that time, the First World War had begun. After the multi-engine heavy bombers "Ilya Muromets" appeared in Russia, the demand for life-saving equipment increased significantly. At the same time, there were a number of cases of death of aviators who used French parachutes. Some pilots began to ask to be supplied with RK-1 parachutes. In this regard, the War Ministry turned to Gleb Evgenievich with a request to make an experimental batch of 70 pieces. The designer set to work with great energy. As a consultant to the manufacturer, he has made every effort to ensure that the rescue apparatus fully meets the requirements. The parachutes were made on time, but further production was again suspended. And then there was a socialist revolution and a civil war broke out.
Years later, the new government decided to establish the production of parachutes, the demand for which was increasing in aviation units and aeronautical units every day. The RK-1 parachute was widely used in Soviet aviation on various fronts. Gleb Evgenievich also got the opportunity to continue work on improving his rescue device. In the first research institution in the field of aerodynamics, organized on the initiative of Zhukovsky, called the Flying Laboratory, a theoretical study of his invention with a complete analysis of aerodynamic properties took place. The work not only confirmed the correctness of Kotelnikov's calculations, but also provided him with invaluable information in improving and developing new models of parachutes.
Jumping with a new rescue device was more and more frequent. Along with the introduction of parachutes in the field of aviation, they attracted more and more attention of ordinary people. Experienced and experimental jumps gathered masses of people, looking more like theatrical performances than scientific research. They began to create circles for teaching parachute jumping, representing this tool not only as a rescue device, but also as a projectile for a new sports discipline.
In August 1923, Gleb Evgenievich proposed a new model with a semi-soft knapsack, called RK-2. Its demonstration in the Scientific and Technical Committee of the USSR showed good results, it was decided to make an experimental batch. However, the inventor was already running around with his new brainchild. The PK-3 model of a completely original design was released in 1924 and was the world's first parachute with a soft pack. In it, Gleb Evgenievich got rid of the spring pushing out the dome, placed honeycomb cells for the lines inside the knapsack on the back, replaced the lock with tubular loops into which the studs attached to the common cable were threaded. The test results were excellent. Later, many foreign developers borrowed Kotelnikov's improvements, applying them in their models.
Anticipating the future development and use of parachutes, Gleb Evgenievich in 1924 designed and patented the RK-4 basket rescue device with a canopy of twelve meters in diameter. This parachute was designed to drop loads weighing up to three hundred kilograms. In order to save material and give more stability, the model was made of percale. Unfortunately, this type of parachute has not been used.
The advent of multi-seat aircraft forced Kotelnikov to take up the issue of joint rescue of people in case of an accident in the air. Assuming that a man or woman with a child who have no experience in parachute jumping would not be able to use an individual rescue device in an emergency, Gleb Evgenievich developed options for collective rescue.
In addition to his inventive activity, Kotelnikov conducted extensive public work. With his own strength, knowledge and experience, he helped flying clubs, talked with young athletes, gave lectures on the history of the creation of life-saving appliances for aviators. In 1926, due to his age (the designer was fifty-five years old), Gleb Evgenievich retired from the development of new models, donating all his inventions and improvements in the field of aviation rescue devices as a gift to the Soviet government. For outstanding services, the designer was awarded the Order of the Red Star.
After the start of the Great Patriotic War, Kotelnikov ended up in besieged Leningrad. Despite his years, the almost blind inventor took an active part in the air defense of the city, fearlessly enduring all the hardships of the war. In a grave condition, he was evacuated to Moscow after the first blockade winter. Having recovered, Gleb Evgenievich continued his creative activity, in 1943 his book "Parachute" was published, and a little later a study on the topic "The history of the parachute and the development of parachuteism." The talented inventor died in the capital of Russia on November 22, 1944. His grave is located at the Novodevichy Cemetery and is a place of pilgrimage for paratroopers.
(Based on the book by G. V. Zalutsky "Inventor of the aircraft parachute G. E. Kotelnikov").
