History

Early suppressors were created around the beginning of the 20th century by a number of inventors. American inventor Hiram Percy Maxim is credited with inventing and selling the first commercially successful models circa 1902. Maxim called his device the trademarked name Maxim Silencer. Later this style of device would be widely adapted to internal combustion engines to generate the muffler, still called a silencer in the UK. The term silencer has since fallen out of favor among the firearms industry, being replaced with the more accurate term sound suppressor or just suppressor. Common usage, in newsprint and in non-technical usage favors the technically inaccurate, but historically earlier term that was used, silencer.

The suppressor was first introduced into the United States Army Air Forces before World War II. Office of Strategic Services agents during World War II favored the newly-designed High Standard HDM .22 caliber pistol. The addition of a sound suppressor baffle to the barrel absorbed 90% of the noise. "Wild Bill" Donovan, Director of the OSS, demonstrated the pistol for President Roosevelt at the White House. According to OSS research chief Stanley Lovell[3], Donovan (an old and trusted friend of the President) was waved into the Oval Office, where Roosevelt was dictating a letter. While Roosevelt finished his letter, Donovan turned his back and fired ten shots into a sandbag. Donovan then announced what he'd done and handed the smoking gun to the astonished President.