Stefan Banic was a Slovak inventor who constructed a prototype of a parachute in 1913 and tested it in Washington D.C. in front of the U.S. Patent Office and military representatives by jumping from a 41-floor building and subsequently from an airplane in 1914. When no one was interested in buying his invention, Mr. Banic donated his patent to the United States Army Balloon Corps, in return for which the Army made him an honorary officer, even though he never could obtain United States citizenship. His patented parachute became standard equipment for U.S. pilots during the First World War.
