maxim

Thank you to the historian who holds all of the Crown Firecoach historical records. I think this machine was built when they were still built in Los Angeles. This is serial number F-1579 and tags have been added to the photos to support searching. It's a 100-foot Maxim rear-mount steel ladder. It was Chula Vista Truck 1 and the 5271 on the rear may be a mutual aid number and radio callsign.

Sir Hiram Maxim died November 24, 1916. His death was widely reported.

From his Wikipedia entry as cited by Seuss. "Sir Hiram Stevens Maxim (February 5, 1840 – November 24, 1916) was an American inventor who moved to the United Kingdom at the age of 41. He remained an American citizen until he became a naturalized 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, hair-curling 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."

Thanks Seuss and swanq. We'll add his full name and since he died in 1916, we'll change the date range.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiram_Stevens_Maxim