Carpet Gun
The "carpet gun" was a homemade toy gun, popular with children in East New York (Brooklyn) in the 1940s and 1950s.
tp://www.lampos.com/brooklyn.htm
Carpet Gun: A homemade toy gun. Again, we turn to John Malar for a description: "This was a gun made out of a long, flat, narrow piece of wood, a clothes pin (the kind that opens and closes), and a rubber band. The rubber band was attached to the far end of the piece of wood. You pulled the rubber band back toward you and held it in place with the clothes pin. You then loaded it with a small piece of roofing shingle and shot it by opening the clothes pin. Carpet guns were extremely inaccurate, but the weapon of choice when we attacked the kids around the corner."
http://www.brooklyn.net/my_bklyn/my_bklyn_333.html
I moved from Brooklyn when I was only ten, so I have some pretty good memories growing up. I played with all the boys (since I had three brothers). My best memories: had a scooter made out of a milk box . . . had my own carpet gun which was made from a piece of wood, a rubber band and wooden clothespin and we would rip up thrown-out linoleum and use the pieces to shoot from the carpet gun.
http://www.go-brooklyn.com/html/issues/_vol25/25_30/trigoboff.html
The author, who celebrates his 55th birthday on Aug. 3, said Yablonsky's memories of weapons he saw on the streets, like carpet guns, were his own childhood memories.
"Only people in East New York had the carpet gun [the predecessor of the zip gun]. It looked like a small crossbow - used in rumbles. It had a trigger mechanism, along with a thick rubber band, and they shot pile and pieces of linoleum. You would aim at noses or an eye, and they lost a nose or an eye."
http://www.totallycool.net/4SumFriends4.html
Ready for a Fabulous Trip down memory lane ... If you were from Brooklyn or if you ever imagined what Brooklyn was like, you'll LOVE this one ! Uncle Bill.
(...)
45. As a kid you hit people with water ballons from atop a building, you shot linoleum projectiles from a
carpet gun and you shot paperclips at people with a rubberband.
tp://www.lampos.com/brooklyn.htm
Carpet Gun: A homemade toy gun. Again, we turn to John Malar for a description: "This was a gun made out of a long, flat, narrow piece of wood, a clothes pin (the kind that opens and closes), and a rubber band. The rubber band was attached to the far end of the piece of wood. You pulled the rubber band back toward you and held it in place with the clothes pin. You then loaded it with a small piece of roofing shingle and shot it by opening the clothes pin. Carpet guns were extremely inaccurate, but the weapon of choice when we attacked the kids around the corner."
http://www.brooklyn.net/my_bklyn/my_bklyn_333.html
I moved from Brooklyn when I was only ten, so I have some pretty good memories growing up. I played with all the boys (since I had three brothers). My best memories: had a scooter made out of a milk box . . . had my own carpet gun which was made from a piece of wood, a rubber band and wooden clothespin and we would rip up thrown-out linoleum and use the pieces to shoot from the carpet gun.
http://www.go-brooklyn.com/html/issues/_vol25/25_30/trigoboff.html
The author, who celebrates his 55th birthday on Aug. 3, said Yablonsky's memories of weapons he saw on the streets, like carpet guns, were his own childhood memories.
"Only people in East New York had the carpet gun [the predecessor of the zip gun]. It looked like a small crossbow - used in rumbles. It had a trigger mechanism, along with a thick rubber band, and they shot pile and pieces of linoleum. You would aim at noses or an eye, and they lost a nose or an eye."
http://www.totallycool.net/4SumFriends4.html
Ready for a Fabulous Trip down memory lane ... If you were from Brooklyn or if you ever imagined what Brooklyn was like, you'll LOVE this one ! Uncle Bill.
(...)
45. As a kid you hit people with water ballons from atop a building, you shot linoleum projectiles from a
carpet gun and you shot paperclips at people with a rubberband.