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Captive Flying Machines (100 Years): Maxim Biography
Despite
making enemies of the numerous competitors and possible
collaborators he met in his various lines of work, the man
enjoyed a reputation as an eccentric character, with a
very peculiar sense of humour. For example, at displays of
his lamps, his annoyance at onlookers voicing their
admiration of Thomas Edison was often vented by sending
them scurrying away to find a match "To light the
electricity". More bizarrely, he had a passion for
elaborate practical jokes, some with a scientific point,
some not. On one occasion, for example, he suspected a
colleague of stealing his hair oil, and so concocted his
own oil using phosphorus, designed to make the user's hair
glow in the dark. Sure enough, the thief was caught out
when he helped himself to the oil while preparing to meet
his girlfriend, and found himself appearing in public with
his head radiating a mysterious glow.
In later
life, Maxim was to see more of his grandson, Maxim Joubert
(son of Adelaide Joubert nee Maxim, and named after Sir
Hiram), and the desire to keep the boy amused spurred him
to ever more bizarre and cruel pranks. For example, he
heard of a theory that human skin reacted to extreme cold
in exactly the same way as extreme heat, and sought to
investigate. This he did by spending an hour walking
around his home, speaking loudly to “The Boy” (as he
was always known) about the ritual of branding of cattle
in America, while brandishing a red-hot poker for all to
see. He then secretly swapped it for an ice-cold poker he
had kept hidden and staged an “accident” resulting in
the “branding” his cook, sending her running and
screaming around the house in the belief that she had been
badly burned. While Maxim found this prank hilarious, the
cook did not, and resigned as soon as she knew the truth.
The youngster was himself not immune to his
grandfather’s pranks, and one year was presented with a
birthday cake, and given a knife. Hiram told him that by
making a clean cut into the cake, he would prove himself a
man. The boy was unable to cut it, and became upset, at
which point it was revealed that the “cake” was,
surreally, stuffed with cotton wool to prevent him from
cutting it. Once again, the victim failed to see the
humour in Hiram’s pranks.
Of all his
eccentricities, however, the most bizarre came to light
when his friends noted that he was mysteriously
unavailable at certain times each week. One week they
followed him to a room, waited until he had left, and went
in, no doubt expecting to see some half-finished prototype
invention. Instead, they found the room totally bare,
apart from a chair by the window, a bag of beans, and a
blowpipe. It emerged that Maxim had hired the room for the
sole purpose of allowing him to sit at the window, firing
beans at Salvation Army parades in the street below! He
was confronted and reluctantly agreed that this was
probably not the sort of thing that a knight of the realm
ought to be doing.
Throughout
his life, and particularly in the period after the Captive
Flying Machines project, Maxim’s eccentricities and love
of the absurd would led him to become involved is some
truly bizarre episodes. He contributed to (and often
started) obscure arguments in the letters page of various
newspapers, and would go to extraordinary lengths to prove
himself right on some relatively trivial matter. For many
years, would indulge in lengthy debates on the subject of
supposedly "perfect" systems for winning at
Roulette and in 1908, was asked by Edward VII to
investigate a new system advocated by Earl Rosslyn. As a
result, he not only got involved in playing endless games
with Rosslyn in an attempt to prove him wrong, but even
built a perfectly balanced Roulette table on which to
play. The challenge, which Maxim won, was covered by the
press, though the King's involvement was kept secret.
Another of
his challenges came when he defied a magician, John Nevil
Maskelyne, to explain the secret behind a trick he had
seen another magician perform in his youth. To Maxim's
surprise, Maskelyne provided a full and detailed
explanation. Frustrated at being beaten, Maxim set out to
out-do the magical world, and later recorded inviting a
magician (most likely Maskelyne again) to see him perform
an early version of the now-famous sawing-the-lady-in-half
routine, using his parlour maid as his assistant.
Despite
such bizarre projects, Maxim’s final years would see him
remain as inventive as ever, albeit with mixed success. He
came up with a steam-powered vacuum cleaner, which was
unsuccessful due to its impractical size, and its
unfortunate tendency to turn everything it collected to
mud. He also began work on a gun silencer, and conducted
experiments to investigate a way of converting kerosene
into petrol using electricity. Most intriguingly of all,
however, he wrote “Li Hung Chang’s Scrapbook” in
1913, a book about world religions, in which he took a
rather unflattering look at Christianity, and particularly
the work of Christian missionaries in Chine. Li Hung Chang
himself was a Chinese general and statesman, who had come
to England to see the prototype of the Maxim Gun, and
struck up a firm friendship with Maxim. He died in 1901,
but Maxim claimed an ability to use his name on the basis
that he knew that Chang’s views on the subject were the
same as his own.
By far the
most successful item to emerge in his later years was the
Maxim Inhaler, inspired by the need to relieve his own
bronchitis. This became very popular in the early years of
the 20th Century, and was a commercial success. It did,
though, earn him some derision from those who thought that
a great inventor like he should not be putting his name to
what was seen as a downmarket cure-all. Maxim's final
words in his autobiography reflect the irony that he could
be thought of as a madman for selling something that
improved peoples' health, and yet be remembered as a hero
for inventing the machine gun. "From the foregoing,
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".
Maxim died of bronchopneumonia on November 24th 1916, mid
way through World War I, a time when both the machine gun
and the aeroplane were being used regularly by both sides.
In fact, one of the most widely used type of machine gun
was the Vickers Gun, an evolution of the Maxim Gun made by
his former business partners.
As for the
rest of his family, his brother Hudson Maxim, who was said
to bear a remarkable resemblance to Hiram in both looks
and attitude, remained in America and became an inventor
in his own right. Like Hiram, he had an interest in
military inventions, but their relationship broke down in
when, in 1890, Hudson patented a new type of smokeless
gunpowder under the name “H Maxim”. Hiram claimed the
invention as his own, and in 1914 wrote a lengthy letter
to the New York Times in which he claimed the invention
for himself, and even implied that Hudson, who was born
“Isaac Maxim”, had changed his name specifically to
bask in the reflected glory of bring Mr H. Maxim. Hudson
took offence at this, and replied at even greater length
to argue his case. It seems likely that Hudson did not
know until he read the letter that this is why Hiram had
snubbed him through the intervening years. Indeed, Hudson
had contacted Hiram in 1895, asking him to be involved in
producing a car in England that he (Hudson) had designed.
Hiram made it quite clear that he wanted nothing to do
with his inventions whatsoever, and it seems that the two
had no further contact other than their argument in the
New York Times.
Hiram Percy Maxim, the only son of Hiram and Jane Budden Maxim, also remained in America, although his father did write to him in 1884, offering the 15 year old Percy the chance to work with him in England and attend “One of the finest colleges in England”. Percy did not take up the invitation, almost certainly on the advice of his mother, and the two would never meet again, only contacting each other through the occasional letter. Nevertheless, Percy remained an admirer of his father and, when Sir Hiram died, continued his father’s work in developing a gun silencer. Percy continued the family’s flair for inventions, and would later become known as “The Father of amateur radio”. Percy died in 1943, and to this day, the American Radio Relay League gives out the Hiram Percy Maxim Memorial Award to young operators who have made an outstanding contribution to the cause of amateur radio.
Although
Maxim's fame has diminished in comparison to rivals like
Edison and the Wright brothers, it is quite astonishing
how many of our modern machines have Maxim's name lurking
somewhere in their history. His work, however, has not
been forgotten. Aside from Blackpool’s Captive Flying
Machine, visitors can also see his work exhibited at the
Science Museum in London, including one of his guns and
propellers from his (real) flying machines. He is also
remembered in his birthplace of Sangerville, which became
known as “The Town of Two Knights”, having also been
the birthplace of mining magnate Sir Harry Oakes.
Of course, Pleasure Beach Blackpool owes him a huge debt of gratitude, as without his work, not only would it be without one of it’s most treasured rides, but without his work on electric lighting, there may not even be such a thing as Blackpool's famous illuminations that gives the Pleasure Beach its late season bonanza every year. The great irony, of course, is that, were Maxim were able to visit the park today, he may take less pride in the ride itself than in the array of bulbs used to light it every night during the latter part of the season
The life of
Sir Hiram Maxim had more highs and lows, twists and turns,
than all of the Pleasure Beach's rides put together. To
remember him solely for the rather bizarre combination of
killing machines and pleasure rides is to do a great
injustice to a truly astonishing inventor and character.
When riding the Sir Hiram Maxim Captive Flying Machines at
Pleasure Beach Blackpool, think of the remarkable chain of
events that led to the ride's existence, the truly
incredible job the park has done to keep this masterpiece
as good as new for an entire century.
While it is fair to say that the Captive Flying Machines did not hold particularly find memories, the same cannot be said of the millions of people who have enjoyed a “flight” over the last century. Their smiles and their laughter are a fitting tribute to a man whose work in the amusement industry was very much the tip of the iceberg.