Hiram Stevens Maxim

Patented in 1884 by Hiram Stevens Maxim, the Maxim gun was the world's first fully automatic, recoil-operated machine gun. By utilizing the energy from each fired cartridge to load the next, it eliminated manual cranking, allowing European imperial powers to devastate indigenous forces during the Scramble for Africa.

Maxim reportedly attended an electrical exhibition in Vienna where an American acquaintance told him that if he wanted to make a fortune, he should "invent something that will enable these Europeans to cut each other's throats with greater facility." This dark advice led him to pivot from electrical engineering to developing automated weapon systems in the early 1880s.

Yes, prior to his machine gun work, Hiram Maxim was a prolific electrical engineer who held numerous patents in the early 1880s. He notably invented an automatic fire sprinkler system, an improved carbon filament for early light bulbs, and even held patents related to early hair-curling irons.

In an attempt to achieve powered flight, Hiram Maxim built the Captive Flying Machine in 1894, a massive biplane test rig powered by two steam engines. The contraption generated enough lift to take off, but its safety rails failed, resulting in a crash that ended his aviation experiments.