Sir Hiram Maxim invented the machine gun in 1884 which significantly changed warfare tactics. As an engineer, he developed an automatic weapon called the Maxim Gun that uses recoil from firing cartridges to eject empty shells and load new ones. Maxim's gun company was later acquired by Vickers Ltd where he became a director, and the Vickers machine gun went on to be the standard British army issue weapon in World War 1.