Description: Tommy Gun, Evans, 1/41 to 4/41, very unique looking, small size. In January of 1941 we weren't yet at war, but everybody hated the Nazis, so how about a gun game to shoot at them? The result was the Evans Tommy Gun. The post-mounted torpedo shaped gun held the mechanism, while a rotating drum on top showed a war panorama where backlit Nazi planes would fly by. The mounted machine gun came in handy as the player ran up a big score as they gunned down the swastika adorned German planes with the Tommy Gun. As the trigger is pulled a relay pulses which turns lights on and off, giving a machine gun light effect. Also there is a coil "noise maker" to help with the effect. When a plane is hit, red lights go off showing the hit. The same plane can be up to three times per appearance on the screen (three times is a challenge though). Game is timed using a mechanical bell-shaped timer device with a switch. The Evans Tommy Gun came in two flavors: the early version had a metal pole-style stand. The later version had a wooden box style stand. The wood box stand was incorporated apparently because the metal stand version was a bit top-heavy, and could tip over.

If you have an Evans Tommy Gun game for sale please let me know at cfh@provide.net

The gun has a light bulb shining through a glass lense to show the player where to aim and shoot. This light bulb used in the gun to aim seems to be a #1129 (6-8 volts, 21 candlepower). I could not read the number on my original bulb, but the #1129 seems to be the closest thing I could find. I ended up using a #1251 bulb (24 volt 28 candlepower) and running it off the 22 volt coil voltage. This worked really well and was very bright, making the aim easier/better for the gun.

The graphics for the rotating drum can be found here (11meg, photoshop6 and JPG formats). When I reprinted the graphics for the drum I did so at Kinkos. They used an HP Color Lucent backlit UV ink on GBC 3 mil Arctic Lustre laminate plastic. This is a translucent material, and it worked out pretty well for such a large graphic (27.5" long x 10" tall). I then mounted the new graphic (centered) behind a 28.75" long x 11" tall x .060" thick piece of PETG plastic for protection.

The side decals says "300 shots for 5 cents", but my Evans Tommy gun works on a timer bell system (games are about 2 minutes long), with unlimited shots. There is a noise maker inside the game to simulate the machine gun sound. This is just a pinball style knocker that rapid fires.

The motor for Evans Tommy gun is a 120 volt, 6 RPM, CCW direction, 5/16" by 1 3/8" long shaft. The motor dimensions are about 3" in diameter and 3" tall. Unfortunately the metal parts of the motor are pot metal and do deterioate. Below is a picture of my motor and the deterioated pot metal part, which no longer works very well because the pot metal armiture housing guide rotted. The gearbox casing is also starting to rot. The motor was made by Merkle-Korff Gear Co., Chicago IL.

A movie about the Tommy gun restoration and showing the game in action can be seen here or can be viewed from YouTube.com.