The 'Sir Hiram Maxim Pipe of Peace'

Sir Hiram Maxim was, as I am sure every visitor to this site will know, was the inventor of the Maxim gun, the worlds first true machine gun and which became the standard MG of the British Army as the Vickers Gun.

Maxim suffered his whole life with Bronchitis, living in London at the turn of the 19th/20th centuries he must have been badly affected by the appalling air quality caused by almost everything being powered by coal.

Maxim was a prolific inventor and he decided to make something to ease his breathing and came up with the 'Pipe of Peace' before WW1, initially it was regarded as a gimmick and he was accused of 'quackery' but word spread about how effective it was. Using a warmed menthol type solution which was warmed and inhaled from the pipe through the nose it was found to be effective and the device then sold widely.

This example is the only one I have ever seen, although there is one in the Vickers MG research Group collection.

The outside of the box has damage to the surface, inside the pipe is intact, the rubber attachment for the nose is present along with an empty bottle for the medicine.

This is really a wonderfully anachronistic item with a direct link to the inventor of something that definitely had no 'Peace' about it.

We would prefer not to post this item but for the customer to collect it as the glass 'pipe' is made from very thin glass, but if there is no alternative we will post it we will package it substantially and send on the understanding that we will not give a refund if it is broken in transit, the buyer will accept full responsibility for the decision to have posted, this applies both directions should the buyer decide to return the item and it is broken during the return trip.