What ever became of this device, did it even work?

[377 20]

Remember a few years ago there were ads for a deployment decelerator device called the SOFTER? I think this is the patent.

Did it work? Was it ever produced or tested?

http://www.google.com/patents?id=6fHXAAAAEBAJ&pg=PA6&dq=tommy+giles+parachute+softer&hl=en&ei=06ODTu7jCe7PiAKC-MmRCQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CDIQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q&f=false

377

2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

[waveoff5500 0]

i might be wrong, but isnt this what the slider is supposed to do?

"its just a normal day at the dropzone until its not"

1653

[IanHarrop 37]

thread from the past http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=2123843

"Where troubles melt like lemon drops, away above the chimney tops, that's where you'll find me" Dorothy

[x5glsdiesel 0]

I would like to see a video of one in use.

Go Out and Jump.

[stayhigh 2]

i can only think of dancing d-bag behind the massive burble.
I guess that CAN feel like softer opening.

Bernie Sanders for President 2016

[x5glsdiesel 0]

If we really want to slow ourselves down before deployment. Why don't we modify sport rigs to have the drogue attachments and ripcords just like on tandem containers? We will increase the size of our pilot-chutes and BAM slower deployment speeds. Just pitch the drogue to slow your decent rate then pull the ripcord to deploy..... (I am sure they may have tried this already)

Go Out and Jump.

[riggerrob 558]

Quote

If we really want to slow ourselves down before deployment. Why don't we modify sport rigs to have the drogue attachments and ripcords just like on tandem containers? We will increase the size of our pilot-chutes and BAM slower deployment speeds. Just pitch the drogue to slow your decent rate then pull the ripcord to deploy..... (I am sure they may have tried this already)

.......................................................................

How about bigger jump-suits?
Who can remember the "wing wars" of the 1970s?
Some of those suits were so huge, they rendered spring-loaded main pilot-chutes obsolete!
How slow does the largest Birdman/Phoenix/Matter suit fall?

[hackish 8]

Although I have had the occasional banger I really think this thing tries to solve a problem that doesn't exist.

Successful devices in parachuting lean heavily on the KISS principle. Look how successful the slider is as compared to previous inventions... ropes & rings anyone?

-Michael