In 1879 a Tennessee man named Benjamin B. Oppenheimer filed one of the wackiest patent applications in history. Described as an “improvement in fire escapes”, Oppenheimer’s invention aimed to save the lives of people trapped in burning multi-storey buildings. The diagram here tells most of the story, however for the record Oppenheimer’s patent application described … Continue reading 1879: Tennessee man invents the ‘parachute hat’