The Washington herald., 1914-11-08

inventor, and has enabled Sir Hiram tc
get stuff printed in the newspaper:
which, under ordinary conditions and
circumstances, would have been con-
signed to the waste basket
His Brothers Charges.
I regret exceedingly the necessity which
compeIs me to lay bare the fact that ny
brother, Sir Hiram Maxim, is capable OF
attacking his own flesh and blood with
malicious falsehood.
Many times I have not replied to his
accusations and charges, but have main
tained a Siignified silence. But the state
ments he has recently made are OF such
nature that they cannot be ignored, and
as they relate to subject matter IN
which, at this time Of war, the whole
world is deeply interested, / feel COM
PEELED to let the truth be known
The following are some of the more inn
portant of his false statements and
claims made in last Sundays New York
Times and New York American. To
quote:
In the meantime (after the advent Of
the Maxim gun IN 1SS7-lSSs), my brother
Isaac, who had conveniently and for OBJ
vious reasons, changed his name to Hud-
son, learning OF my success. came to
England. He was immensely Interested
in my work. - employed him at q
large salary and sent him to Springfield,
Mass, where he entered my powder In
the name OF n. Maxim and At the trials
my powder beat all others at all points
completely out of the held, and my amer
lean friends congratulated me very much.
But later on certain events took
place in which the H Maxim which was
supposed TO be the Hiram Maxim pc
came Hudson Maxim, and that is the
way that Hudson Maxim became the
inventor Of smokeless powder IN tne
States 4rr
1884, he took out British patent, No.
1884 for making smokeless powder into
multi-perforated grains, and claims thar
this patent bears the earliest date Of any
showing multi-perforated smokeless
powder.
Thought "'IGaac'6A Handicap
The above statements from the pen OF
Sir Hiram Maxim are on the face OF
them so absurd and SO IN contradiction
TO previous statements made by him
that I am forced to suspect that his mind
has become somewhat unbalanced, and
what 1 feel compelled to say, therefore,
is tempered with feeling Of charity and
pity. realizing that Sir Hiram's accu-
sations may have emanated from a
crumbling mind.
In This connection ii will be recalled
by many that Sir Hiram Maxim has
from time to time in recent years laid
claim TO the invention of many import
ant devices of other inventors. For ex-
ample he has claimed that he invented
the Maxim gun silencer, and that his
son. Hiram Percy Maxim, was not its
actual inventor, and that he suspected
that Hiram Percy had got the idea from
some old sketch of lis made nearly forty
years ago, when Hiram Percy was a
mere boy.
I have a letter in my possession in
which Sir Hiram lays claim to many Of
Thomas A. Edison's most important in
ventions
Referring to the statement Of Hiram
that / conveniently, and for obvious
reasons" changed my name from Isaac
to Hudson, after he had Invented the
Maxim gun, in order that / might pose
as H Maxim, Of gun-making fame"
have letters and documents in my pos
session which prove that I'bore the name
Hudson more than forty years ago. while
Hiram did not invent the Maxim gun un-
til 1857. have a letter Of recommends
tion from DR.. H. P. Torsey. president Of
the Maine Wesleyan Seminary, Kents
Hill. Me-, under date of October Is 1910,
wherein he refers to me as Hudson Max
i'm, and states that I had then already
attended that school for several terms
As a matter Of fact, when I was a boy
in school did what both Gen. Grant and
Roscoe Conkling did, and what has been
done by many other prominent men:
changed my Christian name. I had sense |
enough to realize that the name Of Isaac |
which my parents had inflicted upon me
would be handicap. and with their CO.
operation and consent I changed 1t from
Isaac to Hudson.
Ny brother Samuel, in Maine has
son nearly thirty years old, whom he
named Hudson after me.
smOkeIess Powder Patent.
Concerning Hiram's claim that his
English patent. No. 1894, for a multi
perforated powder grain, dated Septem--
Der 2, 1894, bears the earliest date Of any
showing multi-perforated smokeless pow
der, be IT noted here that an English pat-
ent bears the date on which It was fled
in the British patent Office
On December Il, 1893, filed an applica-
ton for a patent in the United States for
multi-perforated smokeless powder, i
which illustrates the same multi-perforat-
ed grain now in use by the United States
government Csee L. S. Patent No. 51oss0.
Therefore. /, antedated Sir Hiram with
that application by nearly q year
In January, 1854 flled two more appli-I
cations for muIti-perforated smokeiesS3
powder. Csee U. S. patents Nos. 54oaz
ana 54Os5O.
These applications were filed eight
months ahead Of Sir Hiram's English
patent.
I also fled an application for process
and die for making multi-perforated
smokeless powder on January q. fs9L U.
s. patent No. sSss1sl
I was IN the American Patent Once
with one patent for = multi-celluIar
smokeless powder having an the charac-
teristics Of the multi-perforated Grain