marlinguy wrote on Jul 29
th, 2020 at 6:04pm:
There's a very good chance Pope and Maxim met, as Harry did not leave his uncle's business until well into the 1890's. In 1894 his uncle sent him to Europe to investigate the automobile business, and send home info to Albert on how the business was done.
About a year or so later Pope's one man operation at home had gotten so busy he left his uncle's business, and made barrel making a full time job.
Looks like Maxim could have basically been Pope's replacement. This is from his wikipedia page.
Quote:In early 1895, Maxim visited Colonel Albert Pope in Hartford which led to his being hired for the Motor Vehicle Division of the Pope Manufacturing Company. His vehicle was not ready in time for the Times-Herald race in November, but Maxim was able to get to Chicago and serve as an umpire. He rode with the Morris and Salom entry, the Electrobat II.
In 1899, with Maxim at the controls, the Pope Columbia, a gasoline-powered automobile, won the first closed-circuit automobile race in the U.S. at Branford, Connecticut. Columbia continued to produce gasoline cars until 1913, and was also a major manufacturer of early electric automobiles and trucks
I thought there might have been an MIT connection, but Pope was there in 81 and Maxim graduated in 86, so not likely. But with that as a common background, as well as Firearms, it does not take much speculation to think they probably exchanged some ideas.