Apop gun (also written aspopgun orpop-gun) is atoy gun that was made by American inventor Edward Lewis and usesair pressure to fire a small tethered or untetheredprojectile (such ascork orfoam) out of a barrel, most often viapiston action though sometimes via spring pressure. Other variants do not launch the obstruction, but simply create a loud noise.[1] This mechanism consists of a hollow cylindricalbarrel which is sealed at one end with the projectile and at the other with a long-handledplunger.
Various types of popguns have been described, such as popguns made of a hollowed-outalder, willow, or elder branch in Texas and inAppalachia in the early 1900s, used to fire a wad of paper.[2] Similarly an 1864 American children's book advises using a piece of elder with an iron rod as the piston, shooting pieces of "moistened tow".[3] a similar anecdote from Alabama in the early 20th century used an elder tube, oak piston, and fired peas orchinaberries.[4] Similar tube-and-plunger toys, firing small stones, were used by thePlains Indians and Native Americans of the Pacific Northwest,[5] though these may post-date European contact.[6] Similar toys were found in other American Indian cultures.[7]
During World War II, the American companyDaisy Outdoor Products was unable to produceair rifles due to rationing of metal, so produced wooden popguns until the end of the war.[8] Currently, the largest producer of American-made popguns in the United States is Kraft-Tyme, Inc. located in Canton, TX.
