Inventor Name
Maxim, Hiram
Repository
National Air and Space Museum
Smithsonian Institution
Archives Division
Room 3100, MRC 322
PO Box 37012
Washington, DC 20013-7012
202-633-2320
http://www.nasm.si.edu/research/arch/
Physical Description
1.09 cubic foot
Summary
Sir Hiram Maxim (1840-1916) was an engineer and inventor. In 1878, while serving as Chief Engineer of the US Electric Lighting Co., he fought and lost a priority battle with Thomas Edison over the invention of the electric light. He then turned to mechanical engineering and invented the first efficient machine gun. The US government was not interested in the gun, so in 1881 Maxim traveled to England and established the Maxim Gun Co. The company merged with Nordenfeldt Co. (1888) and Vickers Co., which eventually formed Vickers Sons and Maxim (1896). The British War Office adopted the gun and Maxim became a British citizen (1901) and was knighted by Queen Victoria. Maxim experimented in aeronautics during the thirty years before his death and wrote a number of books and articles on the subject, including Artificial and Natural Flight in 1908. Material by or about Maxim, primarily published works and newsclippings. Includes an unpublished paper concerning Maxim's aeronautical experiments.
