The Chicago Typewriter

     Beauty comes in all shapes and sizes. Sir Francis Bacon once said "There hath no beauty without some strangeness in its proportions."  Many artists have celebrated the ordinary, such as the iconic can of Cambell's tomato soups, or a simple bowl of fruit. Sometimes it is cars, or planes, such as the striking contours of a Lamborghini Aventador, or the space-age looking Concorde commercial jet.

     I would like to speak a little bit about a strange beauty. It is the M1921 Thompson sub-machine gun. It is one of the most iconic weapons ever made, possibly second only to the still used Avtomat Kalashnikova Model 1947, or more simply put, the AK-47, which has over 30 million units spread all over the world.

The 1928 model with the classic "gangster" forward grip and deadly (and heavy) 50 round drum magazine. 

     The "Trench Broom" or "Chicago Typewriter" was first envisioned as a semi-automatic rifle instead of an automatic sub-machine gun. The struggle was finding a safe way to disperse the gasses and recoil of the round without losing the power and potential to reload a fresh round into the chamber. In 1915, General Thompson discovered the John Bell Blish patent of such a system, and began work on his "auto rifle."

     Upon discovery that the system did not work well with rifle calibers, Thompson then imagined a "one man, handheld machine gun" that could be employed in the nasty business of clearing trenches (this was the time of World War One, which was mainly fought via trench warfare)

     In 1918 the design was mostly well rounded, and was released as the "Annihilator I" but WWI ended before any prototypes where shipped to Europe. In 1919 the name of the gun was changed to the "Thompson Sub-machine Gun," and was available to civilians. The 1921 version (and the militarized M1921) variants where more reliable and better preforming, which gained the popularity among the early gangsters and bootleggers who wanted to be able to "outrun and outgun" the police. It's fearsome and intensely modern looks where accentuated by the vertical foregrip and large drum magazine, combined with the ribbed barrel and the Cutts Compensator crowning the muzzle made for quite the intimidating weapon. It preformed as menacing as it looked, spitting out over 1,200 rounds per minute of deadly .45 ACP lead, feeding from a 20 round box magazine, or fifty round drum magazines.

The original concept of the Annihilator I, looking not too different from what the infamous Thompson that it would spawn only a few years later.

     The later M1928, M1, and M1A1 models where all further refined for military use, but did not keep the looks and firing rate that the classic M1921 model had. The M1A1 was in service until after Vietnam with the U.S. military, and saw service at the hands of other militaries as late as the early 2000s.

The military wartime M1A1 model of the Thompson, though less infamous in looks and nature still quite the force to be reckoned with and an instrument of success during the many wars of its use.

     While the military weapon saw far more use and production, there are few weapons as iconic and intimidating as the Model 1928 Thompson. It is this model that the names "Chicago Typewriter" and "Trench Broom" where born for, and the tool that was used in the infamous St. Valentine's Day Massacre to gun down 12 people. It was so infamous and instrumental in arming these rebels that the 1934 NFA act (which prohibited the use of machine guns by US civilians) was named the "Anti Tommy Gun Bill" by the news agencies covering its development.


But aside from its deadly history and infamy, what makes this gun a work of art? For me, it is the design of the weapon, utilizing the recoil of the cartridge to reprime and reload the weapon in a reliably quick way. At the time this weapon was fiercely modern, using more metal than wood and having a very unorthodox shape or using a "vertical pistol grip" at both the front and the back of the weapon, allowing it to be controlled easier and paving the way for today's modern "assault" style of rifles and sub-machine guns that we know today.

Merry Christmas ya filthy animal! And a happy New Year. -From the "Fallen Angel" movies featured in Home Alone.

Call of Duty Advanced Warfare featured a futuristic take on the Thompson design, though this design is not only outdated in the present day, but would be archaic in the future that the game takes place.