I can file with the patent office without ever building a thing. Next, I suppose you're gonna say that that the Wright Brothers invented the airplane?

Do you make this stuff up, or is your little brother logged on with your ID?

Fauste Veranzio constructed a device similar to da Vinci's drawing and jumped from a tower in Venice in 1617.

That my friend is a little before 1783!

PS: That was on the website I posted!

The French invented the parachute:
They needed something to do with their white flags when they were not at war...

"I can file with the patent office without ever building a thing"

A patent is not an invention. It is simply a registry that gives the person submitting the exclusive right to market an invention or idea for a set period of time. (Presuming that the idea or invention is unique enough from other similar inventions.) You may still have to demonstrate in court if challanged that you were able to put forth a working model. You don't have to produce a model, you just have to prove that your design would work.

I now return you to your regularly scheduled debate.

You are right Dr. it does say that. I've done a search on parachutes and their history and some mention Fauste Veranzio and some don't. The majority of the sites credit the French with its invention. And I found one that states they found drawings of a parachute design that predated De Vinchi (although they weren't from France).