The firearm became notorious during the Prohibition era, used as a signature weapon of various organized crime syndicates in the United States in the 1920s. It was a common sight in the media at the time, and was used by both law enforcement officers and criminals. The firearm was widely adopted by the U.S. military during World War II, and was used extensively by the Allied troops during the war. It was designated as the M1928A1, M1 and M1A1 during this time. More than 1.5 million military Thompson submachine guns were produced during World War II. It is the first weapon to be labeled and marketed as a 'submachine gun'. The original fully automatic Thompsons are no longer produced. Numerous semi-automatic civilian versions are still being produced by the manufacturer Auto-Ordnance. These models retain a similar appearance to the original, but have various modifications in order to comply with US firearm laws.īrigadier general John T. Thompson holding an M1921 Development īrigadier general John T. Thompson was the original developer of the Thompson submachine gun, who spent most of his career in the ordnance department of the U.S. He envisioned it as being a fully automatic rifle in order to replace the bolt-action service rifles then in use (such as the American M1903 Springfield).īrigadier general Thompson came across a patent issued to the American inventor John Bell Blish in 1915, while searching for a way to allow his weapon to operate safely without the complexity of a recoil or gas-operated reloading mechanism. Blish's design (then known as the Blish Lock) was based on the supposed adhesion of inclined metal surfaces under pressure. Thompson gained financial backing from the businessman Thomas F. Ryan and proceeded to found a company, which he named the Auto-Ordnance Company, in 1916, for the purpose of developing his new 'auto rifle'. The Thompson was primarily developed in Cleveland, Ohio. By late 1917, the limits of the Blish Lock were discovered (which is essentially an extreme manifestation of static friction), and, rather than the firearm working as a locked breech, the weapon was instead designed to function as a friction-delayed blowback action. It was found that the only cartridge currently in service suitable for use with the new lock was the. General Thompson envisioned a 'one-man, hand-held machine gun' chambered in. 45 ACP to be used as a 'trench broom' for the ongoing trench warfare of World War I. Payne designed the new firearm along with its stick and drum magazines. Most of the design issues had been resolved by 1918 however, the war ended two days before prototypes could be shipped to Europe.

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