Inventors Killed By Their Own Invention

This is a collection of inventors whose deaths were in some manner caused by or related to a product, process, procedure, or other innovation that they invented or designed. A few of these are somewhat bizarre.....

1) Franz Reichelt

Reichelt announced to the press in early February 1912 that he had finally received permission to conduct an experiment from the Eiffel Tower to prove the value of his invention, the “parachute suit”. On Sunday, February 4, at 7 am, he arrived at the tower by car with two friends. The news footage of his jump shows him modelling his invention in its folded form. The suit did not restrict the wearer's movements when the parachute was packed, and Le Petit Parisien described the method of deploying the parachute as being as simple as extending the arms out to form a cross with the body. After adjusting his apparatus with the assistance of his friends and checking the wind direction by throwing a piece of paper taken from a small book, he placed one foot on the guardrail, hesitated for about forty seconds, then leapt outwards. His parachute, which had seemed to be only half-open, folded around him almost immediately and he plummeted for a few seconds before crashing to his death.

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