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They tested it on themselves
No volunteers, no safety net: their own body was the experiment.
Some inventors let the numbers speak. These ones stepped onto the platform, strapped into the sled or walked into the gas themselves, to prove the idea worked.
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Elisha Otis
He Ordered Them to Cut His Elevator’s Rope. With Him Onboard.
In New York in 1854 he stood on his elevator platform and had the rope cut, to show his safety brake.
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John Paul Stapp
46 Times the Force of Gravity. On Purpose.
He rode a rocket sled to 632 mph and stopped in about 1.4 seconds: 46.2 g, the highest known acceleration a human has taken on purpose.
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Garrett Morgan
The Inventor Who Ran Into a Burning Tunnel
On the night of 24 to 25 July 1916 he went into the gas-filled waterworks tunnel under Lake Erie to bring workers out.
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Clarence Dally
He Tested X-Rays for Edison. Then Lost Both Arms.
Right-handed, he held up his left hand in front of the X-ray tubes he was testing, day after day.
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Franz Reichelt
He Jumped Off the Eiffel Tower to Test His Invention
Newspapers reported earlier jumps from 8 to 10 metres. Then he took his suit to the first platform of the Eiffel Tower.
