Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 07.djvu/331

 MAXIM

MAXWELL

Indian Territory until May 28, 1865. He resumed the practice of law at Paris, Texas, and declined the appointment of judge of the 8th Texas dis- trict, April 18, 1873. He was a Democratic U.S. senator from Texas, 1875-87, serving as chairman of the committee on post-offices and post-roads, and of the select committee to inquire into claims of U.S. citizens against Nicaragua. He was the first senator to assert that railroads had a right of way through the Indian Territory. In 1887 he to;tk up the practice of law at Eureka Springs* Ark., where he died, Aug. 10, 1895.

MAXIM, Hiram Stevens, inventor, was born in Sangerville, Maine. Feb. 5, 1840; son of Lsaac Weston and Harriet Boston (Stevens) Maxim. His first ancestor in America emigrated from Kent county, England, in 1650, and settled

in Plymouth, Mass. Hiram obtained a common school edu- cation, and in 1856 was apprenticed to a carriage manufac- turer. In 1861 he had charge of a small shop in Dexter, Maine, and subse- quently became con- nected with various iron works. He stud- ied mechanical draw- yp. • . ing at Fitch burg,

<yil^ifia**^^yft<i^t:4^*^^t^ Mass., and while em- ployed by the Auto- matic Gas Machine company he designed a num- ber of machines for carbonating air. He re- moved to New York city and took charge of one of the branches of work done by the Novelty Iron Works Shipbuilding company. He in- vented a gas machine that would carbonate air at a uniform density irrespective of the specific gravity of the material employed and the temperature of the atmosphere. These were the first and largest machines of the kind, and were ased for lighting large buildings. In 1878 he turned his attention to electric lighting, and with Spencer D. Schuyler he began experimenting. He invented the first system for standardizing incandescent carbons by heating them electrically in an atmosphere of hydro-carbon gases, the system which afterward came into universal use by makers of elec- tric lamps. He also invented the first machine for keeping the potential of electrical current constant, irrespective of the number of lami)s used. In 1881 he went to England, and became the European representative of the U.S. Electric Light company in 1883. He now began a series of experiments on automatic self-loading and dis-

charging firearms. He constructed a single-bar- relled automatic g^n, which loaded and fired it- self by the energy derived from the burning powder, the recoil of the barrel and breechlock developing enough energy to work the median- ism of the gun. This gun was immediately adopted by the several governments and dis- placed all other macliine guns. The gun was capable of firing 600 rounds a minute. An improvement over this, the H-inch Maxim g^n, fired a projectile weighing a little over a pound carrying an explosive charge, and was u.sed dur- ing the war in South Africa with marked suc- cess. Maxim also invented a smokeless powder called '* cordite," composed of nitro-glycerine and gun-cotton. During 1893-94 he oonducted extensive experiments at Baldwin's Park, Kent, England, with a view of ascertaining the amount of power required to perform artificial flight with a screw and aeroplane. These were the first experiments made on a large scale, and furnished data of great importance to science. He was married to Sarah, daughter of Charles Haynes, of Massachusetts. He was elected a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, the Royal Society of Arts, and the British Associa- tion for the Advancement of Science; was made chevalier of the Legion of Honor by the Presi- dent of France in 1881; received a high order from the Emperor of China, and was knighted by Queen Victoria, Jan. 1, 1901. At the Paris Expo- .sition of 1900 he was awarded the Personal Grand Prix on Artillery.

MAXWELL, Augustus Emmett, representa- tive and jurist, was born in Elberton, Ga., Sept. 21, 1820; son of Simeon and Elizabeth (Fortson) Maxwell; grandson of John and James (Henry) Maxwell; great-grandson of Thomas Maxwell, who migrated from Orange county, Va., to Georgia in 1792, and greats-grandson of Joel Max- well, who came from Scotland to America early in 1700. He was a student from Alabama at the University of Virginia, 1837-41, and was admitted to the Alabama bar in 1843, and practised law in Eutaw, 1843-45; removing to Tallahassee, Fla., in 1845. He was a representative in the Florida legislature in 1847; secretary of state in 1848, and a member of the state senate in 1850. He was a Democratic representative from Florida in the 33d and 84th congresses, 1853-57, and was U.S. navy agent at Pensa<5ola, Fla., by appoint- ment of President Buchanan, 1857-61. He was a member of the Con federate States senate, 1862-65, and after the civil war was appointed judge of the supreme court of Florida. He was judge of the circuit court of Florida, 1877-85: a member of the state constitutional convention in 1885; chief justice, and afterward associate justice of the supreme court of that state, 1887-91. He