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Hiram S. Maxim was a very talented man: coach builder, instrument maker, draftsman, scientist, and inventor. He demonstrated the world's first automatic, self-operating machine gun in 1884. According to Maxim: “In 1882 I was in Vienna, where I met an American whom I had known in the States. He said: ‘Hang your chemistry and electricity! If you want to make a pile of money, invent something that will enable these Europeans to cut each others’ throats with greater facility’.”

The gun was a select fire (adjustable cyclic rate in the prototype; auto only in the production model). belt fed. recoil operated weapon. The majority of maxim's ground guns were water-cooled; guns adapted for aircraft were air-cooled. Maximum rate of fire was 666 rounds per minute.

Prior to World War I, the water-cooled Maxim was adopted by many of the major combatants:

United States as the Vickers M1916 in .30 cal. (Vickers was a modified Maxim design).

British Commonwealth (UK, Canada, Australia) as the Vickers heavy machine gun in .303 cal.

Germany as the Spandau in caliber 7.92x57.

Russia as the Maxim M1910 in 7.62x54R.

When he was 60 years old, Maxim became a British citizen in 1900. He died in 1916, two years before WW1 ended. The British Army only declared its Vickers HMG obsolete in 1957. It was, in many respects, “the Devil's paintbrush”.