 Thompson gained financial backing from Thomas F. Ryan and started the Auto-Ordnance Company in 1916 for the purpose of developing his "auto rifle".It was primarily developed in Cleveland, Ohio, and the principal designers were Theodore H. Eickhoff, Oscar V. Payne, and George E. Goll.By late 1917, the limits of the Blish Principle were discovered; rather than working as a locked breech, it functioned as a friction-delayed blowback action.