When was thompson machine gun invented

It was a different time. He also oversaw the development of the Army's new Springfield M rifle and the adoption of the iconic Colt pistol.

When Thompson retired in November , he took a job as chief design engineer at the Remington Arms Company. WWI had broken out, and Thompson started trying to think of ways to break the horrible, lethal deadlock on the Western Front. He believed mobile firepower was the key and that U. His company, the Auto-Ordnance Corporation, had its first prototypes ready in With the help of Theodore Eickhoff and Oscar Payne, Auto-Ordnance continued development of Thompson's idea for a small machine gun "that will fire 50 to rounds, so light that [a soldier] can drag it with him as he crawls on his belly from trench to trench, and wipe out a whole company single-handed.

The Thompson design was based on a scientific principle theorized by Commander John Blish, a former U. Navy officer. Blish noticed that when fired with a light load, some of the Navy's breech loading heavy gun had their breech block come unscrewed, while larger loads that produced more pressure held a tighter seal. He attributed this to the different metals used in the breech and breech block. He believed that under great pressure, two different metals could adhere together better than two pieces of the same metal.

He called it the Blish Principle, around which he designed a breech block which could be used in small arms. He patented his idea in and Thompson bought the rights to use the idea in his gun.

The Thompson used a small bronze H-shaped block which fitted into the gun's steel bolt. According to the Blish Principle, this would slow the bolt's recoil. There was just one problem: Scientifically, the Blish Principle of metal adhesion does not exist.

In reality, the effect Blish was seeing was that his lock merely added mass to the gun's bolt, which, in a blowback gun, simply slows the travel of the bolt. Later, when the Thompson was simplified to create the M1, the Blish lock was also abandoned.

When the trigger was pulled, the bolt was released, slamming into the breech. That ignited the round in the chamber and fired the gun. The pressure from the fired round would then send the Thompson's bolt recoiling to the rear, extracting and ejecting the spent case before the process repeated itself. Thompson himself was recalled to service when the U. The early Thompson prototypes came too late to fight the war they'd been designed for, but they had suitably aggressive names Persuader and Annihilator.

One early model capable of firing up to 1, rounds per minute—an utterly uncontrollable rate of fire. In , the Thompson began to take on its famous classic shape, and by , Auto-Ordnance had a refined its submachine gun to the point it was ready to go to market.

With the great war over, Thompson took his gun to the civilian market, selling it as an "anti-bandit gun. He was particularly concerned with shortcomings of the rifles used during the war and thus sought to create a relatively light-weight weapon that could be carried easily. His goal was to create an effective rifle that could fire a significant amount of rounds very rapidly. The invention of the Thompson submachine gun occurred just after World War I.

The weapon became iconic not only for its later use in combat during World War II, but also as the gun of choice for some of the most notorious criminals in U. The Thompson submachine gun, or "Tommy gun" as it became known, was adopted by many organized crime gangs in large cities in the s. Outgunned, police forces also began using the weapon. Hollywood dramatized the skirmishes between gangsters and police, immortalizing the Tommy gun and its creator. For full functionality please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.

Need Help? Testers considered both superior to either the "XX" box or "L" drum. The thirty round box was approved as standard in December to replace the "XX" and "L" magazines. Australian soldiers equipped with Thompson submachine guns at Tobruk, September 8, M1s were made by Savage Arms and by Auto-Ordnance.

M1s were issued with the thirty round box magazine and would accept the earlier twenty round box, but would not accept the drum magazine. The Thompson was used in World War II in the hands of Allied troops as a weapon for scouts, non-commissioned officers corporal, sergeant and higher ranking , and patrol leaders. In the European theater, the gun was widely utilized in British and Canadian Commando units, as well as in the U. Army paratrooper and Ranger battalions , where it was issued more frequently than in line infantry units because of its high rate of fire and its stopping power, which made it very effective in the kinds of close combat these special operations troops were expected to undertake.

Through Lend-Lease, the Soviet Union also received the Thompson, but due to a shortage of appropriate ammunition in the Soviet Union, usage was not widespread. A Marine fires on a Japanese position using an M1 Thompson submachine gun during an advance on Okinawa in In the Malayan Campaign , the Burma Campaign and the Pacific Theater , the Indian Army , Australian Army infantry and other Commonwealth forces used the Thompson extensively in jungle patrols and ambushes , where it was prized for its firepower, though its hefty weight of over 10 pounds and difficulties in supply eventually led to its replacement in Australian units by other submachine guns such as the Owen and Austen.

The U. Marines also used the Thompson as a limited-issue weapon, especially during their later island assaults. The Thompson was soon found to have limited effect in heavy jungle cover, where the low-velocity. In , the Army had rejected the. Army, many Pacific War jungle patrols were originally equipped with Thompsons in the early phases of the New Guinea and Guadalcanal campaigns, but soon began employing the BAR in its place, especially at front point and rear trail positions, as a point defense weapon.

The Army introduced the U. M3 and M3A1 submachine guns in with plans to produce the latter in numbers sufficient to cancel future orders for the Thompson, while gradually withdrawing it from first-line service. Two Israeli policemen, armed with Thompsons meet a Jordanian legionnaire near the Mandelbaum Gate circa Thompson submachine guns were used by both sides during the Arab-Israeli war.

During the Greek Civil War , the Thompson submachine gun was used by both sides. The Hellenic Armed Forces , gendarmerie and police units were equipped with Thompson submachine guns supplied by the British and later in the war by the United States. The opposing Communist fighters of the Democratic Army of Greece were also using Thompson submachine guns, either captured from government forces or inherited from ELAS.

ELAS was the strongest of the resistance forces during the period of Greek Resistance against the Germans and Italians, and were supplied with arms from both the British and the United States. After the demobilization of ELAS, an unspecified number of arms were not surrendered to the government but kept hidden, and were later used by the Democratic Army of Greece.

By the time of the Korean War , the Thompson had seen much use by the U. During the Korean War, American troops were surprised to encounter Chinese Communist troops heavily armed with Thompsons, especially during surprise night assaults. The gun's ability to deliver large quantities of short-range automatic assault fire proved very useful in both defense and assault during the early part of the conflict.

Many of these weapons were captured and placed into service with American soldiers and Marines for the balance of the war. During the Cuban Revolution , the Thompson submachine gun was used by some of Fidel Castro's guerrillas. During the Vietnam War , some South Vietnamese army units and defense militia were armed with Thompson submachine guns, and a few of these weapons were used by reconnaissance units, advisors, and other American troops. It was later replaced by the M16 assault rifle.

Not only did some U. The Viet Cong liked the weapon, and used both captured models as well as manufacturing their own copies in small jungle workshops. In the conflict in Northern Ireland , known as 'The Troubles' — , the Thompson was again used by the Irish Republican paramilitiaries. The Thompson was also used by U. The FBI used Thompsons until they were declared obsolete and ordered destroyed in the early s.

The Thompson, or copies of the gun, are still seen from time to time in modern day conflicts, such as the Bosnian War. Because of their quality and craftsmanship, as well as their gangster-era and WWII connections, Thompsons are sought as collector's items. There were fewer than forty pre-production prototypes. Early versions of the Thompson had a fairly high cyclic rate of fire, as high as 1,rpm rounds per minute , with most police Model at rpm and military Model at Later M1 and M1A1 Thompsons averaged rpm.

This was one of the major complaints against the weapon made by servicemembers of militaries that issued the Thompson. Although the drum magazine provided significant firepower, in military service it was found to be overly heavy and bulky, especially when slung on patrol or on the march.

For these reasons, the round and later round box magazines soon proved most popular with military users of the MA1, and drum compatibility was not included in the design of the wartime M1 and M1A1 models. The Thompson was one of the earliest submachine guns to incorporate a double-column, double-feed box magazine design, which undoubtedly contributed to the gun's reputation for reliability.

In addition, the gun performed better than most after exposure to rain, dirt, and mud. The select fire semi- or full automatic Thompson fires from the "open bolt" position, in which the bolt is held fully to rearward by the sear when cocked. When the trigger is depressed, the bolt is released, traveling forward to chamber and simultaneously fire the first and subsequent rounds until either the trigger is released or the ammunition is exhausted.

This eliminates the risk of "cook-off," which can sometimes occur in closed-bolt automatic weapons when the barrel becomes so hot that chambered rounds auto-ignite, causing the weapon to fire uncontrollably. The Thompson submachine gun varies in field strip procedure, depending on the variant. There were two main experimental models of the Thompson.

The Persuader was a belt-fed version developed in , and the Annihilator was fed from a 20 or round box magazine, which was an improved model developed in and Additionally, the and round drum magazines were developed. The first shipment of Persuaders arrived in New York to be shipped overseas on November 11, , the day the Armistice went into effect.

The Model was limited to about 40 units, the first units built did not use the drums, as it was too difficult to fire. With many variations noted throughout. The weapons had very high cyclic rates around 1, rpm. Almost all Model of s were made without buttstocks and front sights, and the final version closely resembled the later Model of This model was designed as an automatic Colt. Some experimental calibers were. The layout and ergonomics of the Thompson submachine gun was also considered for the role of a Light Rifle before the adoption of the M1 Carbine.

However it did form the basis of the Thompson Light Rifle , a development of this variant with a barrel shroud which housed a quick barrel change device similar to the MG42 but was refused in favor of the aforementioned M1 Carbine. The Model M was the first major production model. Fifteen thousand were produced by Colt for Auto-Ordnance. In its original design, it was finished more like a sporting weapon, with an adjustable rear sight, a blued, finned barrel and vertical foregrip or pistol grip and the Blish lock.

The M was famous throughout its career with police and criminals and in motion pictures. This model gained fame from its use by criminals during Prohibition, and was nicknamed "tommy gun" by the media. The Model was a heavy submachine gun introduced to potentially expand the Auto-Ordnance product line and was demonstrated for the U. It introduced a horizontal forearm , improved inline stock for accuracy, inch barrel, bipod and bayonet lug.

The Army did not give the Model of much consideration, so it was not adopted. While not a new model in the usual sense of incorporating major changes, in the Cutts Compensator a recoil brake was offered as an option for the M; Thompsons with the compensator were cataloged as No.

The Model was the first type widely used by military forces, with the U. Navy and U. Marine Corps as major buyers through the s. The original Model s were Model s with weight added to the actuator, which slowed down the cyclic rate of fire, a U. Navy requirement. On these guns, the model number '' on the receiver was updated by stamping an '8' over the last '1'. The Thompson would be the last small arm adopted by the U. Army that used a year designation in the official nomenclature.

With the start of World War II, major contracts from several countries saved the manufacturer from bankruptcy. A notable variant of the Model with an aluminium receiver and tenite grip, buttstock, and forend, was made by Savage. The MA1 variant entered mass production before the attack on Pearl Harbor , as on-hand stocks ran out. Changes included a horizontal forend, in place of the distinctive vertical foregrip " pistol grip " , and a provision for a military sling.

Despite new U. Though it could use both the round drum and the or round box magazines, active service showed the drums were more prone to jamming, rattled when moving, and were too heavy and bulky on long patrols.