View Full Version : Will the Real "Hiram Maxim" Please Stand Up?
I'm probably the last one to discover this, but I've from time to time wondered how it is that Hiram Maxim, founder of ARRL, could also be the same guy who invented the machine gun and silencer so many years earlier. #I mean, what are the odds of two guys, both with the unlikely moniker of "Hiram Maxim."
Duh! #http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif
After all these years, I finally thought to make use of Google and the Web and resolved this mystery for myself. #(Internet is so much easier than the library, for a lazy bones like me.)
There were two Hiram Maxims, father and son! #The machine gun inventor was Hiram Stevens Maxim, and of course our ARRL founder was, as we all know, his son, Hiram Percy Maxim.
I guess my next scholarly inquiry will be to determine whether all aspirins really are all alike! #Or what the significance is of the fact that our ARRL founder's name is a homophone for, "Hire 'm, axe 'm." #(Not that there's anything wrong with that...)
Howie N6KX #http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/rock.gif
kl7aj
10-25-2005, 05:33 PM
Quote[/b] (N6KX @ Oct. 25 2005,09:58)]I'm probably the last one to discover this, but I've from time to time wondered how it is that Hiram Maxim, founder of ARRL, could also be the same guy who invented the machine gun and silencer so many years earlier. #I mean, what are the odds of two guys, both with the unlikely moniker of "Hiram Maxim."
Duh! #http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif
After all these years, I finally thought to make use of Google and the Web and resolved this mystery for myself. #(Internet is so much easier than the library, for a lazy bones like me.)
There were two Hiram Maxims, father and son! #The machine gun inventor was Hiram Stevens Maxim, and of course our ARRL founder was, as we all know, his son, Hiram Percy Maxim.
I guess my next scholarly inquiry will be to determine whether all aspirins really are all alike! #Or what the significance is of the fact that our ARRL founder's name is a homophone for, "Hire 'm, axe 'm." #(Not that there's anything wrong with that...)
Howie N6KX #http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/rock.gif
At HIPAS observatory, where we do Ionospheric research, we have this old standby diesel generator. It has a giant muffler on it made by the Maxim Silencer company. Same outfit as the gun silencer! Must be worth a fortune now. http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif
Genius does run in families.
eric
W5MEJ
10-25-2005, 05:51 PM
Historians seem to be a little confused about all this, too. #Hiram Stevens Maxim is always credited with the invention of the machine gun, but I have read some books and stories that attribute the silencer and muffler invention to Hiram Percy Maxim. #Other writers attribute both the machine gun and the silencer to the father.
Hiram Stevens Maxim is also said by some to be the inventor of Cordite, while other authors attribute Cordite to Hiram's brother Hudson Maxim.
Inventive family, though, any way you look at it. #Hiram Stevens Maxim was also fascinated with aircraft design. #His steam-powered airplane never flew - something about all that water for the boiler just being too heavy to get off the ground!
It would be pretty hard for him to stand up, because he is buried in the City Cemetary, and has been so for many, many years!
Several years ago, the A.R.R.L. send a bunch of fellows down from Newington to visit the gravesite, and it was a real occasion for our local ham club! ( Antietam Radio Association of Hagerstown, MD )
I'm sorry I did not live here yet, at that time .
73, Jim
Quote[/b] (AG3Y @ Oct. 25 2005,13:08)]It would be pretty hard for him to stand up, because he is buried in the City Cemetary, and has been so for many, many years!
Several years ago, the A.R.R.L. send a bunch of fellows down from Newington to visit the gravesite, and it was a real occasion for our local ham club! ( Antietam Radio Association of Hagerstown, MD )
I'm sorry I did not live here yet, at that time .
73, Jim
Using ground penetrating radar, they located HPM's body about a quarter mile south of his burial location. Seems with the recent actions of the ARRL, he was turning over in his grave so fast he bored his way halfway across the cemetery.
W5MEJ
10-25-2005, 08:59 PM
Quote[/b] (AG4YO @ Oct. 25 2005,14:11)]Using ground penetrating radar, they located HPM's body about a quarter mile south of his burial location. #Seems with the recent actions of the ARRL, he was turning over in his grave so fast he bored his way halfway across the cemetery.
And the award for "ARRL bashing, regardless of thread topic" goes to...
Quote[/b] (W5MEJ @ Oct. 25 2005,13:59)]Quote[/b] (AG4YO @ Oct. 25 2005,14:11)]Using ground penetrating radar, they located HPM's body about a quarter mile south of his burial location. Seems with the recent actions of the ARRL, he was turning over in his grave so fast he bored his way halfway across the cemetery.
And the award for "ARRL bashing, regardless of thread topic" goes to...
ROFL!!!
W5MEJ
10-25-2005, 09:36 PM
Sorry, I couldn't help myself. #I'm glad you took it in the spirit I intended! #http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif
73
Chuck
K8ERV
10-25-2005, 10:43 PM
Quote[/b] (kl7aj @ Oct. 25 2005,10:33)]Genius does run in families.
Not in mine, I am the only one---
TOM K8ERV Montrose Colo
Tom, you aren't kidding. They broke the mold, before they made you ! http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/laugh.gif
73, Jim
k4kyv
10-26-2005, 01:21 AM
HPM was the inventor of the Maxim silencer. I recall reading in old QST's of the era, when he died, something about observing a moment of Maxim Silence.
KA3RFE
10-26-2005, 04:09 PM
It's amazing what you can learn around here...
I watched a PBS program a while back on WW1 and was not paying that much attention to it and my impression was that the Maxim who invented the gun was German and the German army first used it with great affect. Guess I am wrong.
73
kl7aj
10-26-2005, 04:14 PM
Quote[/b] (AG3Y @ Oct. 25 2005,18:04)]Tom, you aren't kidding. #They broke the mold, before they made you ! #http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/laugh.gif
73, Jim
They broke the mold when they made me too, because nobody wants a moldy son!
eric http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif
Some minor Internet research reveals that Hiram Percy Maxim, born in Brooklyn, NY, and who ived from September 2, 1869 - February 17, 1936, was a mechanical engineering graduate of MIT. #He eventually settled in Hartford, Connecticut.
Prior to his founding of ARRL in 1914, he developed the "Maxim Silencer," or suppressor, around 1902, as well as a muffler for gasoline engines. #He also pursued profound interests in acoustics, aeronautics, and aviation.
His uncle, Hudson, was a noted inventor of high explosives, and his father, Hiram Steven, invented, among other things, the Maxim Machine Gun.
Quite a prolific, talented family.
Howie N6KX #http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif
n7rjd
10-26-2005, 07:14 PM
Quote[/b] (N6KX @ Oct. 25 2005,03:58)]I guess my next scholarly inquiry will be to determine whether all aspirins really are all alike!
That's an easy one. No they are not all alike. Some are harder to pry off the top of the bottle when trying to get to the cotton ball underneath.
Quote[/b] (k4kyv @ Oct. 25 2005,18:21)]HPM was the inventor of the Maxim silencer. I recall reading in old QST's of the era, when he died, something about observing a moment of Maxim Silence.
You probably also read that he started the ARRL so the average lowly amateur would have a voice. The intent NEVER was for a select few to decide what the average amateur wanted. Perhaps the silencer was invented to use on the "select few" if they got too big for their britches.
kl7aj
10-28-2005, 05:30 PM
Quote[/b] (AG4YO @ Oct. 28 2005,10:15)]Quote[/b] (k4kyv @ Oct. 25 2005,18:21)]HPM was the inventor of the Maxim silencer. #I recall reading in old QST's of the era, when he died, something about observing a moment of Maxim Silence.
You probably also read that he started the ARRL so the average lowly amateur would have a voice. #The intent NEVER was for a select few to decide what the average amateur wanted. Perhaps the silencer was invented to use on the "select few" if they got too big for their britches.
Well, from last I heard ARRL still had elections. If there are bums, we can throw them out. If you don't vote, you really can't complain.
IMHO
eric
W5MEJ
10-28-2005, 05:35 PM
Quote[/b] (AG4YO @ Oct. 28 2005,11:15)]Perhaps the silencer was invented to use on the "select few" if they got too big for their britches.
He had a couple of other inventions that would be more appropriate for that, I think. #Maybe widespread use of those two that are credited to his alter-ego, TOM, would totally eliminate the need for a new bandplan!
kl7aj
10-28-2005, 06:13 PM
There's a band plan?
kl7aj
10-28-2005, 06:14 PM
Quote[/b] (W5MEJ @ Oct. 28 2005,10:35)]Quote[/b] (AG4YO @ Oct. 28 2005,11:15)]Perhaps the silencer was invented to use on the "select few" if they got too big for their britches.
He had a couple of other inventions that would be more appropriate for that, I think. #Maybe widespread use of those two that are credited to his alter-ego, TOM, would totally eliminate the need for a new bandplan!
Although silencing the big of britch is always a good idea. http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif
eric
K9STH
10-28-2005, 08:24 PM
The "real" HPM:
Glen, K9STH
KA4DPO
10-29-2005, 12:24 AM
Quote[/b] (kl7aj @ Oct. 28 2005,11:14)]Quote[/b] (W5MEJ @ Oct. 28 2005,10:35)]Quote[/b] (AG4YO @ Oct. 28 2005,11:15)]Perhaps the silencer was invented to use on the "select few" if they got too big for their britches.
He had a couple of other inventions that would be more appropriate for that, I think. #Maybe widespread use of those two that are credited to his alter-ego, TOM, would totally eliminate the need for a new bandplan!
Although silencing the big of britch is always a good idea. http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif
eric
I read somewhere that HPM was an avid shooter and liked to target shoot with his friends in Maryland. Apparently the neighbors complaned about the noise which prompted him to invent the silencer. Just so happens that the automobile was beginning to catch on around the same time. One thing lead to another and old Percy became well off from the patent for an internal combustion engine silencer (muffler). All this happened a few years before he and what's his name founded the ARRL.
This factoid brought to you by ARS KA4DPO, send money...
kg4kww
10-29-2005, 12:39 AM
Sorry to have to be the one to break the news N6KX OM but, Hiram is 6 feet under and has been for a number of years. So, I don't think he's in any condition to stand up.
wa4brl
10-29-2005, 01:11 AM
AG4YO said:
Quote[/b] ]You probably also read that he started the ARRL so the average lowly amateur would have a voice.
The ARRL wasn't started so amateurs would have a voice. #It was because the apparatus of the day had relatively short range. #To communicate over longer distances required passing messages from one station to another, but there was no organized, standard way to do so. #
The endeavor was to form a structured group (LEAGUE) by which the amateurs could transfer (RELAY) messages via wireless (RADIO) distinctly within these United States (AMERICAN).
I guess the really hard part was coming up with a name for it. # #http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/laugh.gif
KA4DPO
10-29-2005, 02:35 AM
Don't know who came up with the name but ol Percy was a mercenary sucker wasn't he.
K8ERV
10-29-2005, 01:39 PM
Quote[/b] (KA4DPO @ Oct. 28 2005,17:24)]This factoid brought to you by ARS KA4DPO, send money...
Do you take PayPal? Think I have 25¢ left in my account--
TOM K8ERV Montrose Colo
KA4DPO
10-29-2005, 02:37 PM
I accept any donations, no stamps please...
wa4brl
10-30-2005, 02:47 AM
DPO: I've been trying to figure out what your avatar is, but in these tiny renditions, I just can't tell. It looks vaguely like a helicopter -- at least I think I see a main rotor and tail -- but what is that in the foreground?
Perhaps it's a frame from the filming of "Twilight Zone - The Movie". Is that Vic Morrow's head coming at me?
KWW - What the heck are you talking about?!
Howie N6KX #http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/rock.gif # http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/mad.gif
Quote[/b] (kl7aj @ Oct. 28 2005,11:14)]Quote[/b] (W5MEJ @ Oct. 28 2005,10:35)]Quote[/b] (AG4YO @ Oct. 28 2005,11:15)]Perhaps the silencer was invented to use on the "select few" if they got too big for their britches.
He had a couple of other inventions that would be more appropriate for that, I think. Maybe widespread use of those two that are credited to his alter-ego, TOM, would totally eliminate the need for a new bandplan!
Although silencing the big of britch is always a good idea. http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif
eric
Stop britching!
af2cw
10-31-2005, 03:03 PM
Quote[/b] (N6KX @ Oct. 31 2005,07:32)]KWW - What the heck are you talking about?!
You'll have to excuse KWW, too much formaldehyde #http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif #http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif
Quote[/b] (wa4brl @ Oct. 28 2005,18:11)]AG4YO said:
Quote[/b] ]You probably also read that he started the ARRL so the average lowly amateur would have a voice.
The ARRL wasn't started so amateurs would have a voice. It was because the apparatus of the day had relatively short range. To communicate over longer distances required passing messages from one station to another, but there was no organized, standard way to do so.
The endeavor was to form a structured group (LEAGUE) by which the amateurs could transfer (RELAY) messages via wireless (RADIO) distinctly within these United States (AMERICAN).
I guess the really hard part was coming up with a name for it. http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/laugh.gif
From an article written by HPM's traveling companion, the guy who knew him best:
"One of Mr. Maxim's major services to A.R.R.L. as his constant insistence, down through the years, upon the highest ethics and standards in our organization. The organization must not be selfish; it must have orderly government in terms of majority opinion, it must work for the greates good to the greatest number; it must not lend itself to personal axe-grinding. These prindciples are epitomized in a little article he wrote for QST in September, 1927, which we reproduce at the end of the page, commending it to the attention of all. Exponent of the charm and the spirit of adventure of amateur radio, champion of our rights and wise leader, Hiram Percy Maxim lives on in the hearts of the world's amateurs!"
Hiram P. Maxim himself said:
"SITTING back in the old armchair, with the last issue of QST read from cover to cover and with everybody else in the house asleep hours ago, I fell to thinking of amateur radio to-day and amateur radio of other days. As the blue smoke curls slowly upward from the old pipe, visions of early A.R.R.L. Directors' Meetings float before me. I see those old-timers grappling with problems of organization, with QRM, with trunk-line traffic and rival amateur leagues. I see sinister commercial and government interests at work seeking to exterminate amateur radio. They were dark days, those early ones.
"To-day I see Amateur Radio an institution, recognized by our American government and on the road to recognitions by the other governments of the world. I see a fine, loyal A.R.R.L. membership of 20,000 standing shoulder to shoulder and believing in each other and still blazing the way in radio brotherhood taking shape, in the form of our I.A.R.U.
"And as the last embers of the old pipe turn to grey ash, I ask how it all came about: that the A.R.R.L. shold have succeeded and all its opponents failed. The answer is clear. It is because with our opponents there was always some kind of a selfish motive to be served for someone, whereas in our A.R.R.L. we insisted from the beginning that no selfish motive for anybody or anything should ever prevail. Everything that A.R.R.L. undertakes must be 100% for the general good. That policy bred loyalty and confidence."
Not one word about releying messages.
And the guy who suggested voting as a way to make changes, perhaps you need to read this too. I am an ARRL member and I vote. I also reserve the right to hold them to the standard set by their founder. The lack of loyalty and confidence today in the ARRL should be a dead give away as to the real issue with the League. They have lost the mandate of members and they refuse to officially poll us for our opinion to get back on track.
kb2vxa
11-01-2005, 03:14 PM
Hi MAXIMalists,
"Several years ago, the A.R.R.L. send a bunch of fellows down from Newington to visit the gravesite, and it was a real occasion for our local ham club! ( Antietam Radio Association of Hagerstown, MD ) I'm sorry I did not live here yet, at that time ."
The Crypt Keeper is a HAM?
"Fulsome Effluvium!"
Yeah, flushsome effluvium.
http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/cool.gif http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/laugh.gif
KA4DPO
11-01-2005, 06:25 PM
Quote[/b] (wa4brl @ Oct. 29 2005,19:47)]DPO: #I've been trying to figure out what your avatar is, but in these tiny renditions, I just can't tell. #It looks vaguely like a helicopter -- at least I think I see a main rotor and tail -- but what is that in the foreground?
Perhaps it's a frame from the filming of "Twilight Zone - The Movie". #Is that Vic Morrow's head coming at me?
It was a test of a man portable ground to air missile, yep that's a remotely piloted helocopter. The background are mountains and the range is Yuma Proving Ground, Yuma, AZ.