in June 1919 Irvin set up Irvin Air Chute to manufacture parachutes for the U.S. government
Minor thread creep - it was actually Irving Air Chute (and his rip-cord patent is listed under that name):
http://airbornesystemscanada.com/history.html
On June 18th, 1919 a Certificate of Incorporation was issued and "The Irving Air Chute Company" was born. A clerical error resulted in the addition of the "g" to Irvin and this was left in place until 1970 when the company was unified under the title Irvin Industries Incorporated.