The Shooting Star Tommy Gun is a
pneumatic
Pneumatics (from Greek ‘wind, breath’) is a branch of engineering that makes use of gas or pressurized air.
Pneumatic systems used in Industrial sector, industry are commonly powered by compressed air or compressed inert gases. A central ...
machine gun manufactured by Shooting Star Inc. It was invented by Charles A. Feltman, the grandson of
Charles Feltman
__FORCETOC__
Charles Feltman (1841–1910) was a German-American restaurateur. He is one of several claimed inventors of the hot dog.
From pushcart to restaurant mogul
Feltman was born in 1841 in Germany and emigrated to America in 1856, at the ag ...
, often credited as the inventor of the
hot dog in
Coney Island, New York with young Feltman previously inventing a hot dog roll toaster.
The first version of the game was called "Mow 'Em Down" and featured a pneumatic machine gun resembling a water cooled
heavy machine gun and was invented in 1939. Later Feltman modified the design to resemble a
Thompson submachine gun with a patent granted in 1941
The weapon fires 100 .150
BBs, made of #2 lead shot. Later, a "Combat" variant was introduced, which crudely resembles a
Colt AR-15.
Feltman industries operated in Coney Island for many years until it then moved to
New Jersey and became Shooting Star Inc, as the object of the game was to shoot out all traces of a red star on a white paper card.
Gallery
File:Shooting Star Tommy Gun.jpg, The "Tommy Gun" variant.
File:Shooting Star Combat gun.jpg, The "Combat" variant.
References
{{Use dmy dates, date=June 2017
Air guns of the United States
Carnival games