Complex sentence: He was the inventor of the Maxim Gun, the first portable, fully automatic machine gun, patented the first silencing device for a firearm, and the ubiquitous mousetrap, and he laid a claim to inventing the lightbulb.
Split into simpler sentences: He was the inventor of the Maxim Gun--the first portable, fully automatic machine gun--and the ubiquitous mousetrap. He patented the first silencing device for a firearm, and laid a claim to inventing the lightbulb.