“Uncovering the Hidden Genius: The Surprising Origins of the World’s First Machine Gun!”
Born in 1840 in Sangerville, Maine, Sir Hiram Stevens Maxim was a prolific inventor, his various creations including a bronchitis inhaler, the first automatic fire sprinkler system, an early version of the lightbulb, and an amusement park ride called the “Captive Flying Machine” which is still used to this day. He was also one of many inventors competing with the Wright Brothers to build the first powered, heavier-than-air flying machine. But Maxim’s greatest claim to fame would come as a result of a chance encounter in 1882. As he later recounted to the Times of London:
“I was in Vienna, where I met an American whom I had known in the States. He said: ‘Hang your chemistry and electricity! If you want to make a pile of money, invent something that will enable these Europeans to cut each other’s throats with greater facility.’ ”
Over the next four years, Maxim toiled in his London workshop to perfect such a weapon, which he inevitably dubbed the Maxim Gun. Unlike its predecessors, the Maxim Gun was recoil-operated, using the recoil impulse generated by each cartridge firing to push back the sliding barrel and cycle the weapon’s action – no hand-cranking or other external power source required. The weapon was fed from a long cloth belt of ammunition while its barrel was wrapped in a metal jacket full of cooling water, allowing it to sustain firing rates as high as 600 rounds per minute for long periods of time. When first introduced, the Maxim gun was designed to use then-standard black powder cartridges; however, it was soon adapted for the newly-invented smokeless powder.
