Hiram Maxim
Sir Hiram Stevens Maxim was a British, Americanborn inventor who moved from the United States to the United Kingdom at the age of 41. He remained an American citizen until he became a naturalised British subject in 1900. He was the inventor of the Maxim Gun the first portable, fully automatic machine gun and held patents on mechanical devices such as a mousetrap, haircurling irons, and steam pumps. He laid claim to inventing the lightbulb, and even experimented with powered flight, but his large aircraft designs were never successful. However, his Captive Flying Machine amusement ride, designed as a means by which to fund his research while generating public interest in flight, was highly successful.
Maxim was born in Sangerville, Maine, in the United States in 1840. He became an apprentice coachbuilder at the age ofand ten years later, took up a job at the machine works of his uncle, Levi Stephens, at Fitchburg, Massachusetts. He subsequently worked as an instrumentmaker and as a draughtsman.
Source: Wikipedia