13 Unlucky Inventors Killed by Their Own Inventions

While some inventors bask fame and fortune thanks to their invention , for a handful of inventors , their devices prove their own worst foeman . Here are 13 luckless ( and in some cases , heady ) artificer who expire thanks to their own creations .

Franz Reichelt or François Reichelt, the Flying Tailor (1879-1912)

This Austrian - carry French tailor is remembered for his accidental end by jump from the Eiffel Tower while testing his own invention , a wearable parachute suit for pilot who would escape from a damage plane .

The first mental testing were quite successful with using dummies , so he want to jump himself . The 187 - foot ( 57 metre ) fall to the icy ground defeat him right away .

( viaFotonahistoriaandThe Oddment Emporium )

Horace Lawson Hunley (1823-1863)

Hunley was a Confederate marine engineer who formulate deal - powered grinder . On October 15 , 1863 , though he was not part of the crew , Hunley decide to take command during a routine exercise . The vas sank and all eight members were pour down .

The submarine was by and by raised an used again in the first successful sinking of an enemy vessel by a submarine , but shortly afterward it drop down again . In the summer of 2000 , an pleasure trip led by Clive Cussler raised the Hunley and deliver it to Charleston ’s old Navy stem .

( viaUnion Library Civil War Round TableandAmerican Civil War )

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William Bullock (1813-1867)

The father of the vane rotary printing press and innovative printing was wipe out by his own invention in a bizarre accident . Bullock tried to kick a ram belt onto a pulley block but his ramification was caught in the simple machine and crushed . Nine days afterward , he died during the surgical process to amputate his crushed limb , which had become infect with gangrene .

( viaThe Institution of Electronics And Technology )

Otto Lilienthal, the Glider King (1848-1896)

During his last escape , Lilienthal ’s glider stalled and he fell from a height of 50 ft ( 15 m ) . He suffered a fracture of third cervical vertebra , and die just 36 60 minutes after the crash in a clinic .

( viaLilienthal Museum , Wikimedia Commons / Library Of CongressandWikimedia Commons / A. Regis )

Sylvester H. Roper (1823-1896)

The builder of the first bike , the Roper steam tricycle ( 1867 - 1869 ) and one of the earliest automobile , a steam carriage ( 1863 ) , died on June 1st 1896 on a later steam tricycle model . He was get wind to wobble and then fall onto the track . It is unknown whether heart bankruptcy was the effort of Roper ’s expiry or if the clank led to the heart onset .

( viaDaimler MotorcycleandBoston Daily Globe , 17 May 2025 / Wikimedia Commons )

Aurel Vlaicu (1882-1913)

The builder of the first metal plane in the world died while attempt to intersect the Carpathian mountains for the first clip in the arrow - shaped Vlaicu II airplane on September 13 , 1913 .

( viaEarly AviatorsandCeasuri Pentru Romania )

Valerian Abakovsky (1895-1921)

The Latvian - born inventor of the data-based high - speed railroad car with an aero engine and propeller named Aerowagon — precursor to the German Schienenzeppelin — died on the return route to Moscow after a successful psychometric test . The railcar jump and kill six passenger .

( viaLord KandWikimedia Commons )

Alexander Bogdanov (1873-1928)

In 1924 , Bogdanov part his blood transfusion experiments , hoping to achieve eternal youth or partial greening . After eleven transfusions , his eyesight was improved , but a belated transfusion drink down him : in 1928 he took the blood of a scholarly person suffer from malaria and tuberculosis .

( viaWikimedia Commons 1–2 )

Sabin Arnold von Sochocky (1883-1928)

Sochocky invented the first Ra - base luminescent paint , and die of aplastic anemia resulting from Ra intoxication . By the room , Ra wasa really popular material in the early twentieth century , and it was responsible for for the deaths of many people , notably clock telephone dial painters .

https://gizmodo.com/seriously-scary-radioactive-consumer-products-from-the-498044380

( viaRoger Russell )

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Max Valier (1895-1930)

In the former twenties , rocketry pioneer Valier and Fritz von Opel were working on rocket - power auto and aircraft . The first successful test firing with liquid fuel was performed in January 1930 , and on April 19 , Valier do the first test thrust of a rocket car with fluid propulsion .

On May 17 , during another psychometric test , the alcohol - fuelled rocket salad explode on his trial terrace and Valier was killed .

( viaThe Chicane , SecretprojectsandLibrary Of Congress )

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Thomas Midgely, Jr. (1889-1944)

The artificer of leaded petrol and CFC contracted poliomyelitis in 1940 at the old age of 51 , ultimately putting him in a wheelchair . Ever the artificer , he developed a pulley system to help others lift him out of bottom . Tragically , that very system kill him in 1944 after he became entangled in the ropes .

( viaHoly Molecules , Batman )

Henry Smolinski (1933-1973)

Smolinski and his partner , Hal Blake , founded Advanced Vehicle Engineers in 1971 to contrive and build a flying cable car . Their first ( and only ) epitome wasthe AVE Mizar , which combined a Ford Pinto with a rear last of a Cessna . The wings fell off during a routine flight , killing both of the engineer .

https://gizmodo.com/the-first-flying-car-was-based-on-the-ford-pinto-and-k-5888216

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzv4q5EEy1k

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( viaCurb Side ClassicsandCarStyling )

Karel Soucek (1947-1985)

The stuntman go over Niagara Falls in a custom - built , electric shock - absorbent barrel in 1984 .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Qjn1htCwGk

One year later , he was dropped 180 feet from the top of the Houston Astrodrome into a tank of water . The ejector seat hit the rim of the water tank , and Soucek die at a infirmary few 60 minutes later .

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