{{Short description|Toy gun which uses compressed air to fire a projectile}} {{for|the comics anthology |Popgun (comics)}} {{Use British English|date=April 2026}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2026}}
{{Infobox toy | name = Popgun | image = Toy popgun.jpg | caption = A popgun | type = Toy weapon | materials = Wood, metal, plastic | features = Pneumatic (compressed air) | from = 17th century (documented) }}
A '''popgun''' (also spelled '''pop gun''' or '''pop-gun''') is a simple pneumatic toy weapon that uses compressed air (usually via piston action, though sometimes via spring pressure) to expel a lightweight projectile, typically a small tethered or untethered object, producing a distinctive '''popping''' sound. Popguns are among the earliest known mechanical toys based on air pressure and have been documented in Europe since at least the 17th century. Unlike pneumatic air rifles intended for target shooting, popguns are designed for low-velocity play, emphasising mechanical feedback and acoustics.
Although primarily associated with children's play, the popgun has also been used to demonstrate pneumatic principles, and appears in figurative language to describe something weak or ineffective.
==Etymology== The word ''popgun'' is a compound of ''pop'', an imitative explosive sound, and ''gun''. Its earliest English usage is recorded in the 1620s.<ref>{{cite web |last=Harper |first=Douglas |title=Pop-gun |website=Online Etymology Dictionary |url= https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=popgun |year=2024}}</ref>
==Description== [[File:Wooden Popgun From the 1904 World's Fair Personalized For Howard Holland.jpg|thumb|Wooden popgun from the 1904 World's Fair]] A popgun typically consists of a tubular barrel and a closely fitting piston or plunger that compresses air behind a projectile. When actuated, the compressed air forces the projectile, commonly a cork, foam or paper wad, or soft rubber plug, out of the barrel with an audible "pop".<ref name="Collins">{{cite web |title=Popgun |website=Collins Dictionary |url= https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/popgun |year=2024}}</ref> Other variants do not launch the obstruction, but simply create a loud noise. This mechanism consists of a hollow cylindrical barrel which is sealed at one end with the projectile and at the other with a long-handled plunger.<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Burkhart |first=Paul H. |title=Popular Mechanics|journal=Popular Mechanics |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_90DAAAAMBAJ&pg=RA1-PA149|accessdate=4 June 2013|date=July 1912|editor-last=Windsor |editor-first=Henry Haven |publisher= |volume=18 |issue=1 |page=149 |issn=0032-4558}}</ref>
===Design=== Popguns operate through basic pneumatic compression. A typical design includes: * A cylindrical barrel * A piston or plunger with an airtight seal * One or more soft projectiles When the plunger is pushed into the barrel, the air pressure behind the projectile increases until it is expelled. The sudden release of pressure produces the characteristic "popping" sound.
In some designs, two plugs are used in sequence, creating alternating compression and vacuum effects that amplify the sound.
===Physics and mechanism=== The fundamental operation of a popgun is based on Boyle's Law, which states that, at a constant temperature, the pressure of a gas is inversely proportional to its volume:
{| |- | style="padding: 0.2em 0.4em;" | <math>P \propto \frac{1}{V}</math> | style="padding: 0.2em 0.4em;" | Pressure is inversely proportional to the volume |}
where {{mvar|P}} is the pressure of the gas, {{mvar|V}} is the volume of the gas.
As the volume {{mvar|V}} is decreased by pushing the plunger, the internal pressure {{mvar|P}} increases.
The process follows the mechanical sequence: * Sealing: The projectile is firmly seated in the muzzle, creating an airtight seal. * Compression: The user rapidly advances the plunger. This reduces the volume of the air trapped between the plunger head and the plug. * Threshold: As the volume decreases, the internal pressure rises. * Ejection: Once the force exceeds the static friction holding the plug in the barrel, the plug is launched. The rapid expansion of air and the subsequent vibration of the barrel walls produce the signature "pop".
==History== Popguns were historically constructed from natural materials such as hollow plant stems, especially elder (''Sambucus nigra''), and fitted with carved wooden plungers. Children commonly used berries, peas, or damp paper as ammunition. Such devices were widespread in rural Europe and North America and were often described in 18th- and 19th-century instructional literature for children.
Various types of popguns have been described, such as popguns made of a hollowed-out alder, willow, or elder branch in Texas and in Appalachia in the early 1900s, used to fire a wad of paper.<ref name="Abernethy1989">{{cite book|author=Francis Edward Abernethy|title=Texas Toys and Games|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fkQPsVLhq20C&pg=PA56|accessdate=4 June 2013|year=1989|publisher=University of North Texas Press|isbn=978-1-57441-037-2|pages=56 ff.}}</ref> 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".<ref>{{cite book|title=Every Little Boy's Book: A Complete Cyclopædia of in and Outdoor Games with and Without Toys, Domestic Pets, Conjuring, Shows, Riddles, Etc. : With Two Hundred and Fifty Illustrations|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XPg-AAAAYAAJ&pg=PA17|accessdate=4 June 2013|year=1864|publisher=Routledge, Warne, and Routledge, Farringdon Street; New York: 56, Walker Street.|pages=17 ff.}}</ref> a similar anecdote from Alabama in the early 20th century used an elder tube, oak piston, and fired peas or chinaberries.<ref name="Smith2009">{{cite book|author=Billy D. Smith|title=My Life As I Remember It: Growing Up in Alabama|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cSdL2bWHAwgC&pg=PA53|accessdate=4 June 2013|date=October 2009|publisher=AuthorHouse|isbn=978-1-4490-2399-7|pages=53 ff.}}</ref> Similar tube-and-plunger toys, firing small stones, were used by the Plains Indians and Native Americans of the Pacific Northwest,<ref name="ElmendorfKroeber1992">{{cite book|author1=William W. Elmendorf|author2=Alfred Louis Kroeber|title=The structure of Twana culture|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SvFtAAAAMAAJ|accessdate=4 June 2013|date=July 1992|publisher=Washington State University Press|isbn=978-0-87422-087-2}}</ref>{{Page needed|date=April 2026}} though these may post-date European contact.<ref name="KeokePorterfield2009">{{cite book|author1=Emory Dean Keoke|author2=Kay Marie Porterfield|title=Encyclopedia of American Indian Contributions to the World: 15,000 Years of Inventions and Innovations|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QIFTVWJH3doC&pg=PA271|accessdate=4 June 2013|date=1 January 2009|publisher=Infobase Publishing|isbn=978-1-4381-0990-9|pages=271 ff.}}</ref> Similar toys were found in other American Indian cultures.<ref name="Culin1992">{{cite book|author=Stewart Culin|title=Games of the North American Indians: Games of Skill|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780803263550|url-access=registration|accessdate=4 June 2013|year=1992|publisher=U of Nebraska Press|isbn=978-0-8032-6356-7}}</ref>{{Page needed|date=April 2026}}
The popgun evolved from a primitive folk toy into a mass-produced consumer product. By the mid-19th century, popguns began to be manufactured commercially, often from turned wood with leather-sealed pistons. American companies like Upton & Co. and later Daisy Manufacturing began producing lithographed tin and steel popguns. These often featured "break-action" loading mechanisms similar to real shotguns to appeal to the "Wild West" cultural trends of the time.
In the 20th century, metal and plastic versions became common as industrial toy production expanded.<ref name="Cross" /> During the Second World War, shortages of metal led to increased production of wooden toys, including popguns, as substitutes for more complex items.<ref>{{cite book |last=Smith |first=Merritt Roe |title=Harpers Ferry Armory and the New Technology |publisher=Cornell University Press |year=1977 |pages=134–136 |isbn=978-0801409844}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Sharon M. Scott|title=Toys and American Culture: An Encyclopedia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mbTUorcuXkoC&pg=PA67|accessdate=4 June 2013|year=2010|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-0-313-35111-2|pages=67 ff.}}</ref>
==Derivatives== ===Spud gun=== A popular variation of the popgun is the "spud gun" or "potato gun". Rather than a permanent cork, the user pushes the muzzle into a raw potato, carving out a small plug that serves as the projectile.
===Vacuum popgun=== Some modern designs use a "reverse" action. Instead of compressing air to push a plug out, the plunger creates a partial vacuum that, when released, causes the plug to snap back against the barrel, creating the noise through impact and rapid air displacement rather than projectile flight.{{Citation needed|date=April 2026}}
==Cultural significance== Popguns are frequently associated with childhood play and ingenuity and appear in memoirs and folklore as symbols of informal entertainment, for example, "while on the desk before him might be seen sundry contraband articles and prohibited weapons, detected upon the persons of idle urchins, such as half-munched apples, popguns, whirligigs, fly-cages, and whole legions of rampant little paper game-cocks" (''The Legend of Sleepy Hollow'', 1820, Washington Irving).
The term has also entered figurative usage. In political, military, and sporting contexts, "popgun" describes something that appears threatening but lacks real power,<ref>{{cite web |title=Popgun |website=Merriam-Webster |url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/popgun |year=2024}}</ref> for example, "Then, to my horror, he coolly stooped, placing candle and chair on the leads, and his hands in his pockets, as though it were but a popgun that covered him" (''To Catch a Thief'', 1901, E. W. Hornung).
A notable historical reference is the Popgun Plot, an alleged conspiracy to assassinate King George III, using an air-gun rather than a popgun.<ref name="Claeys2010">{{cite book|author=Gregory Claeys|title=Politics of English Jacobinism: Writings of John Thelwall|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cyRMSyqtlEoC&pg=PA501|date=1 November 2010|publisher=Penn State Press|isbn=978-0-271-04446-0|pages=501 ff.}}</ref>
==Safety standards== Popguns are strictly regulated to prevent ocular or other injuries. Under European Standard EN 71 safety standard for toys, they must limit projectile energy, avoid hazardous projectiles, and pass impact testing. Under USA ASTM F963 safety standards, they must use soft, lightweight projectiles, meet kinetic energy limits, and avoid sharp points or rigid materials.
==See also== * Air gun * Gun, a weapon that shoots bullets at high-speed. * Pneumatics * Popgun Plot, an alleged 1794 conspiracy to assassinate George III using a poisoned dart fired by an airgun * Spud gun * Toy weapon
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Further reading== * {{cite book |last=Cross |first=Gary |title=Kids' Stuff: Toys and the Changing World of American Childhood |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=1997 |isbn=978-0674898301}} * {{cite book |last=King |first=Constance Eileen |title=The Encyclopedia of Toys |date=1986 |edition=2 |publisher= Crown Publishers |isbn=978-1555210847 }} (History of folk-made elderberry popguns in 18th-century Europe) * {{cite book |last1=Opie |first1=Iona |last2=Opie |first2=Peter |author-link1=Iona and Peter Opie |author-link2=Iona and Peter Opie |title=Children's Games in Street and Playground |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1969 |isbn=978-0198272106}} * {{cite book |last=White |first=Gwen |title=Antique Toys and Their Background |publisher=Chancellor Press |date=1971 |isbn=978-0668024846 }} (Discusses the transition from wood to tin-plate manufacturing in the 1880s)
==Categories== Category:Toys Category:Toy weapons Category:Pneumatics Category:17th-century inventions Category:Children's games Category:Novelty items