Editing Hiram Maxim (section)

==Inventions==
Maxim, a longtime sufferer of [[bronchitis]], patented and manufactured a pocket [[menthol]] [[inhaler]] and a larger "Pipe of Peace", a steam inhaler using [[pine]] vapour, that he claimed could relieve [[asthma]], [[tinnitus]], [[hay fever]] and [[catarrh]].<ref>"Sir Hiram Maxim's great Invention", ''The Times'', 19 July 1910.</ref> After being criticised for applying his talents to [[quackery]], he protested that "it will be seen that it is a very creditable thing to invent a killing machine, and nothing less than a disgrace to invent an apparatus to prevent human suffering".<ref name="nyt" />[[File:Sir Hiram Stevens Maxim00.jpg|right|thumb|Maxim caricatured by [[Leslie Ward|Spy]] for [[Vanity Fair (British magazine)|Vanity Fair]], 1904]]He also invented a curling iron, an apparatus for demagnetising watches, magno-electric machines, devices to prevent the rolling of ships, eyelet and riveting machines, aircraft artillery, an aerial torpedo gun, coffee substitutes, and various oil, steam, and gas engines.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.sangerville.lib.me.us/hiram.html |title=Hiram's inventions |access-date=12 November 2003 |archive-date=28 December 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111228062322/http://www.sangerville.lib.me.us/hiram.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>

A large furniture factory had repeatedly burned down, and Maxim was consulted on how to prevent a recurrence. As a result, Maxim invented the first automatic [[fire sprinkler]]. It would douse the areas that were on fire, and it would report the fire to the fire station. Maxim was unable to sell the idea elsewhere, but when the patent expired the idea was used.<ref>{{Citation |last=Chinn |first=George M. |title=The Machine Gun |year=1951 |volume=I |publisher=Bureau of Ordnance }}, p. 127.</ref>

Maxim developed and installed the first electric lights in a New York City building (the [[Equitable Life Building (New York City)]] at 120 [[Broadway (Manhattan)|Broadway]]) in the late 1870s.<ref name=nyt/> In 1878 he cofounded [[United States Electric Lighting Company]] together with [[Edward Weston (chemist)|Edward Weston]] to commercialize his designs.

However, he was involved in several lengthy patent disputes with [[Thomas Edison]] over his claims to the [[lightbulb]]. One of these actions regarded the [[incandescent bulb]], for which Maxim claimed that Edison was credited by means of his better understanding of [[patenting]] law. Maxim claimed that an employee of his had falsely patented the invention under his own name, and that Edison proved the employee's claim to be false, knowing that patent law would mean the invention would become public property, allowing Edison to manufacture the lightbulb without crediting Maxim as the true inventor.{{citation needed|date=November 2016}}

===Maxim gun===
{{main|Maxim gun}}
[[File:Maxim, Cassier and Smith with Machine Gun for Germany - Cassier's 1895-04 (cropped).png|thumb|upright|Image from the April 1895 edition [[Cassier's Magazine]], showing Hiram Maxim and the [[Maxim gun]], along with Louis Cassier and J. Bucknall Smith]]
Maxim was reported to have said: "In 1882 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 others' throats with greater facility.'"<ref name=nyt>Malcolm Brown [https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0CEFDE1E38F935A15752C1A963948260&sec=health&spon=&pagewanted=all 100 years of 'Maxim's Killing Machine'] ''New York Times'', 26 November 1985.</ref>

As a child, Maxim had been knocked over by a rifle's recoil, and this inspired him to use that recoil force to automatically operate a gun. Between 1883 and 1885 Maxim patented gas, recoil and blowback methods of operation. After moving to England, he settled in a large house formerly owned by [[Lord Thurlow]] in [[West Norwood]] where he developed his design for an automatic weapon, using an action that would close the breech and compress a spring, by storing the recoil energy released by a shot to prepare the gun for its next shot. He thoughtfully ran announcements in the local press warning that he would be experimenting with the gun in his garden and that neighbours should keep their windows open to avoid the danger of broken glass.<ref>Ben Weinreb & Christopher Hibbert, ''The London Encyclopedia'', {{ISBN|0-333-57688-8}} ''Serbia House''</ref>

Maxim founded an arms company with financial backing from [[Edward Vickers]] to produce his machine gun in [[Crayford]], Kent, which later merged with [[Maxim Nordenfelt Guns and Ammunition Company|Nordenfelt]]. Subsequently, part of the [[Vickers Shipbuilding and Engineering#History|Barrow Shipbuilding Company]] purchase by [[Vickers]] Corporation in 1897, formed 'Vickers, Son & Maxim'. Their improved development of the Maxim gun design, the [[Vickers machine gun]], after Maxim's resignation from the board in 1911 on his 71st birthday, was the standard British machine gun for many years. With arms sales led by [[Basil Zaharoff]], variants of the Maxim gun were bought and used extensively by both sides during [[World War I]].

In his later years Maxim became profoundly deaf, as his hearing had been damaged by years of exposure to the noise of his guns.<ref>Action By Sir Hiram Maxim, ''The Times'', 16 January 1915.</ref>

===Flying machines===
[[Image:maxim.gif|thumb|right|Maxim's flying machine]]
Maxim's father had earlier conceived of a helicopter powered by two counter-rotating rotors, but was unable to find a powerful enough engine to build it. Hiram first sketched out plans for a helicopter in 1872, but when he built his first "flying machine" he chose to use wings.  Before starting design work, he carried out a series of experiments on aerofoil sections and propeller design, at first using a [[wind tunnel]] and later building a whirling arm test rig.<ref>{{cite book |last=Penrose |first=Harald<!--Harald is not a typo--> |title=British Aviation: The Pioneer Years |location=London |publisher=Putnam |date=1967 |pages=22–23 }}</ref> Construction started in 1889 of a {{convert|40|ft|m|adj=mid|-long}} craft with a {{convert|110|ft|m|adj=mid}} wingspan that weighed 3.5 tons, powered by two lightweight [[naptha]]-fired {{convert|360|hp|0|adj=mid}} [[steam engine]]s driving two {{convert|17|ft|m|adj=mid|-diameter}} laminated pine propellers.<ref>{{harvnb|Penrose|1967|p=25}}</ref>

Conceived of as a test rig, the machine ran on an {{convert|1800|ft|m|adj=mid}} length of rail track which Maxim laid down for the purpose at his home, Baldwyn's Park Mansion, Baldwyn's Park in [[Bexley]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Baldwyn's Park Mansion|url=http://www.newsshopper.co.uk/news/bexley/322679.inventors_mansion_in_line_for_makeover/|website=News Shopper|date=11 February 2002 |access-date=23 February 2017}}</ref> The initial intention was to prevent the machine from lifting off by using heavy cast-iron wheels, but after initial trials, Maxim concluded that this would not suffice, and so the machine was fitted with four wheeled outriggers which were restrained by wooden rails {{convert|13|ft|m}} outside the central track.<ref>{{harvnb|Penrose|1967|pp=33–4}}</ref> In trials in 1894, the machine lifted and was prevented from rising by the outriggers.<ref>{{cite news | newspaper = The Times | date = 25 November 1916 | title = Death of Sir Hiram Maxim. A Famous Inventor, Automatic Guns And Aeronautics }}</ref> During its test run, all the outriggers were engaged, showing that it had developed enough lift to take off, but in so doing, it pulled up the track; the tethered "flight" was aborted in time to prevent disaster.<ref name=wragg>Wragg, D.; "Flight Before Flying", Osprey (1974).</ref> Maxim subsequently abandoned work on it but put his experience to work on fairground rides.<ref>{{cite book |last= Beril|first=Becker |title=Dreams and Realities of the Conquest of the Skies |year= 1967|publisher=Atheneum |location= New York|pages=124–125 }}</ref> He subsequently noted that a feasible flying machine would need better power-to-weight engines, such as a petrol combustion engine.<ref>{{cite book|title=My Life}}</ref>

====Captive Flying Machines====<!--Proper name -- capitalisation is correct-->
{{unreferenced section|date=January 2019}}
[[Image:Hiram Maxim Captive Flying Machines.jpg|thumb|right|The Sir Hiram Maxim Captive Flying Machines operating at [[Blackpool Pleasure Beach]] in 2006]]
To both fund his research into flight and to bring attention to the notion of flight, Maxim designed and built an amusement ride for the [[Earls Court Exhibition Centre|Earl's Court exhibition]] of 1904. The ride was based on a test-rig he had devised for his research, and consisted of a large spinning frame from which cars hung captive. As the machine spun, the cars would be swung outward through the air, simulating flight. The ride was similar to the later [[Circle Swing]] ride, made popular in the US by renowned roller-coaster designer [[Harry Traver]].

Maxim originally intended to use primitive aerofoils and wings to allow riders to control their flight, but this was outlawed as unsafe. As a result, Maxim quickly lost interest in the project, declaring the adapted ride as "Simply a glorified merry-go-round". Nevertheless, his company built several more rides of various sizes at [[The Crystal Palace]] and various seaside resorts including [[Southport]], [[New Brighton, Merseyside|New Brighton]], and [[Blackpool]], all of which opened in 1904. Originally, Maxim had intended to build only two, but a lengthy breakdown on the original Earl's Court ride forced him to build more to make the venture profitable. He had plans for further variations of the ride but his disillusionment with the amusement business meant that they were never realised.

Although he expressed regrets about the whole project, the rides were held in high regard within the amusement industry and the Blackpool ride still operates to this day as part of what is now the [[Blackpool Pleasure Beach|Pleasure Beach]] amusement park. Along with the same park's similarly historic [[river caves]], it is the oldest operating amusement ride in Europe. The Flying Machines has the distinction of being virtually unchanged from Maxim's original design. The Blackpool ride's name is now usually abbreviated to the "Flying Machine" or "Flying Machines", although the full name, "Sir Hiram Maxim's Captive Flying Machines", is given at the ride entrance.

In 2001, [[Disney California Adventure Park]] opened, featuring the [[Golden Zephyr]], a modern-day recreation of the Traver version of the ride. The ride itself is much smaller than the Blackpool version, with cars swinging out at a much smaller angle. Nevertheless, engineers from Disney visited Blackpool to inspect the Maxim ride (the only example of either version still standing) to help design their ride.