WI: Hiram Maxim Patents the Incandescent Light Bulb

Delta Force

Banned
What if Hiram Maxim had patented the light bulb in the United States and/or United Kingdom instead of Thomas Edison and Joseph Swan? Would he still emigrate to the United Kingdom in 1881, or might he stay in the United States to collaborate with his brother Hudson Maxim (developer of smokeless powders) and son Hiram Percy Maxim (developer of combustion engines, automobiles, silencers/mufflers, and the radio relay system)? What kind of research might Hiram Maxim and/or his family pursue with the lucrative revenue stream provided by the light bulb patent and other improvements? Might they establish a company that branches out from Maxim guns and Nordenfeldt guns into other armaments, perhaps even becoming a leader in the aviation industry?
 

Delta Force

Banned
I would say that Edison being Edison, he simply copies the idea and commercializes it without real consequences.

There were quite a few big legal battles over inventions in that era. Perhaps Maxim would have to work with Westinghouse as he did historically to help him in his legal battles against Edison and others?
 
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