Maxim Gun

   , MAXIM SILENCER

   There were three Maxims, all inventors. The elder Maxim, Sir Hiram Stevens (1840-1916), was born near Sangerville, Maine. He moved to England and became a naturalized British citizen. Between the years 1881 and 1884, he invented the first fully automatic machine gun. It operated from the recoil of a cartridge that expelled the empty shell and reloaded the weapon at the same time. As long as the trigger was depressed, the Maxim gun kept firing until all ammunition was expended. The gun had a water-cooled barrel and a 250-round belt. Maxim's company was bought by the giant Vickers Armstrong Ltd. in 1896. Maxim's other inventions received less attention, but they show the ingenuity of an active mind. He invented an automatic fire sprinkler, a gas meter, a delayed-action fuse, a smokeless powder, and an inhaler for bronchitis. He also experimented with internal-combustion engines for automobiles and airplanes. For these accomplishments, Maxim was knighted.

   Maxim's brother, Hudson (1853-1927), was born at Orneville, Maine, with the name Isaac Weston Maxim, but he preferred and adopted the name Hudson. Hudson began his career as a book publisher, but turned to explosives, setting up a manufacturing company that he sold to E. I. du Pont in 1897. He is best known for having invented the high explosive maximite, one and a half times as powerful as dynamite, for use in artillery shells.

   Hiram Percy Maxim (1869-1936), born in Brooklyn, New York, was the son of Hiram. Young Hiram invented the Maxim silencer for firearms, designed to make the firing of a weapon practically noiseless. But his silencers found other commercial uses. They have been used to eliminate noises of gasoline engines, compressors, blowers, vacuum pumps, and machines with a high-velocity discharge of steam or air.