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Hawkins, Mr. Mr. Hawkins was created by "Edgar Franklin," the pseudonym of Edgar Franklin Stearns (Captain Velvet), and appeared in forty stories in Argosy, Blue Book, and Cavalier from 1903 to 1915, beginning with “The Hawkins Horse-Brake” (Argosy, May 1903); twelve of the stories were collected in Mr. Hawkins’ Humorous Inventions (1904).

Mr. Hawkins is an Unlucky Inventor. Hawkins is eccentric, conceited, and very impractical, but also imaginative and skilled at putting the things he imagines into practice. Unfortunately, every invention he creates goes wrong in some way, getting Hawkins and his friend Griggs in trouble. Hawkins’ creations include: the "Hawkins A.P. Motor," which reutilizes fuel and comes close to utilizing perpetual motion; a flying car; "Hawkinsite," a super-explosive "ten thousand times stronger than dynamite;" the "Hawkins Crook Trap," which captures and chloroforms burglars; the "Hawkins Chemico-Sprinkler," an "automatic fire sprinkling system;" a locomotive that runs on alcohol (rye, preferably); and an automatic coal-loader, which is what causes Griggs to end his friendship with Hawkins.

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