1840 - 1916
Hiram Maxim, who was born at Brockway's Mills, Maine, made a fortune from his invention of the Maxim machine gun, and he used a good bit of that fortune to explore heavier-than-air flight. After moving to England in 1881, Maxim began his aerial experiments at Baldwyns Park, England, in the late 1880's, leading to the construction in 1893 of his enormous biplane Test-Rig, which weighed about 7,000 pounds. The machine's two steam engines each produced 180 h.p. and turned two pusher propellers each 17-1/2 feet in diameter. Since the device was intended to be a test vehicle it was held to a track, preventing it from rising more than a couple of feet.
On The Maxim Biplane Test-Rig, ca. 1894
The Screw At Top Center Was The Most Efficient - ca. 1894
On the Maxim Biplane Test-Rig's third test run, on July 31, 1894, with Maxim and a crew of three aboard, it lifted with such force that it broke the reinforced restraining track and careened for some 200 yards, at times reaching an altitude of 2 or 3 feet above the damaged track. It was believed that a lifting force of some 10,000 pounds had likely been generated.
The Test-Rig was subsequently used on a number of occasions to raise funds for charities, rather than raising itself. Within a year or so the Maxim Test-Rig was dismantled. Hiram Maxim designed and built a biplane in 1910 but it was unsuccessful.
Hiram Maxim On Ground, Center Right
Spellmount Publishers, 2001