Jump to content

Thompson Drawings


Recommended Posts

My announcement that I would make original Thompson drawings available apparently pleased a lot of people. It was just an idea at the time but the enthusiastic response forced me into overtime. The project has been slightly modified and I am getting the drawings out fairly quickly by prioritizing the drawings requested. The updated offering policy is reproduced below.

 

THOMPSON MANUFACTURING DRAWINGS

 

As the supply of original Thompson parts diminishes and the prices go higher and higher for those that remain, the temptation to manufacture new ones increases. I have no problem with that as long as the newly made parts are as good or better than the originals. It seems, though, that everyone who makes parts claims their parts are “made to the original specifications/drawingsâ€. When I have made inquiries to the makers as to where they got the “original specifications/drawings†(I’m always searching for original Thompson engineering data.), I am invariably told that the “original specifications/drawings†were derived from studying an original part. You can’t have it both ways. Either you have the “original specifications/drawings†or you don’t. Copying an existing part is not manufacturing to the “original specifications/drawingsâ€. There is no way of knowing what the original design dimensions were or what limits were placed on manufacturing deviations (tolerances) by the engineers to assure that the parts are interchangeable within every gun. Manufacturing is an imprecise activity at best. Parts are never exactly in accordance with the original design dimensions. Therefore, copying an existing part, which already deviates from the original design dimensions, adds more manufacturing deviations, producing a part that may not fit in every gun.

 

Part of the solution to the problem of bad parts is to at least start with the original specifications/drawings. As many of you know, I have most every original specification/drawing for the WW2 U.S. Army Thompson guns as well as the tools, accessories, ammunition, etc. (I don’t have all the earlier drawings.) However, there are hundreds of them in various size formats and in varying conditions. And they are packed away in storage. Even though I have tried to help wanabe manufacturers in the past at no charge, the time involved is excessive, particularly when no great benefit to the Thompson world comes of it.

 

I have, therefore, decided to digitize and restore all the drawings, reduce them to 8 ½†x 11†prints and make them available to everyone. The only exceptions will be those full size drawings that I already offer in my catalog and drawings of parts that I either manufacture or intend to manufacture. The price is $20 per single drawing sheet postpaid.

 

Bear in mind that every part has its own drawing and if it is a part of a permanent assembly, there will be an assembly drawing. For example, there is no one drawing showing the manufacturing information for the pivot plate. There is an assembly drawing which shows all the parts in position and instructions as to how the parts are assembled. Then there is a drawing for the plate, another for the trigger axis and another for the sear axis. Material and heat treatment specifications for each part are on yet another drawing. However, rather than requiring two drawings for every part, I will add the material and heat treatment specifications information to the drawing at no additional charge.

 

You need to identify the exact drawing you want by number and name. If you do not know the number or are unsure as to the true part name, provide a COMPLETE description of the part and the model of the gun it goes on. I offer full size gun assembly drawings in my catalog that number and name every part in the gun, which should help. If you have any questions regarding interpreting the drawing after you receive it, I will try to help you.

 

A great deal of time and money has been expended to digitize and restore the drawings, which is copyrighted, not to mention the extraordinary effort to locate the drawings. So, please respect the copyright limitations. The drawings are for the purchaser’s use only. They are not to be copied for further distribution.

 

Make checks or money orders payable to M.K.Witter as usual and mail orders to: Doug Richardson, 2100 McReynolds Road, Malibu CA 90265.

Tel: 310-457-6400 Fax: 310-457-3010 E-M: ThompsonSMG@Mail.com

Because of the nature of this product there will be no refunds unless I make a mistake.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...