The origins of the impact sprinkler

By Emma Peterson. 

How one farmer tinkered his way towards patenting one of the most foundational irrigation tools today.  

Today, impact sprinklers are a commonly used and essential tool among gardeners. This uniquely designed sprinkler utilizes a rotating motion and impact arm to distribute water evenly across a garden or field. They are popular with both professional growers and home gardeners for their versatility and durability. But they haven’t always been available on the market.  

The first patent for an impact sprinkler was filed on December 18, 1933, and awarded to Orton Englehart on April 16, 1935. Orton wasn’t an inventor or engineer – he was a citrus grower trying to find a better way to irrigate his orange grove. In an article for the Irrigation Association’s magazine, Irrigation Today, Lauren Sable Freiman described Orton’s creative process:  

In a shed in Glendora, California, in the late 1920s and early ’30s, citrus grower Orton Englehart was hard at work, tinkering with pieces and parts, on a mission to find a better way to irrigate his orange grove. Everything from tin cans to whisk springs became reimagined and repurposed with one goal: devising a better, more efficient, more uniform method of delivering water to his grove. 

This was a slow process, but it was something that Orton was good at. Looking back at the images and records from that time, Mark Ensworth, director of research and development and chief engineer at Rain Bird, shared his thoughts: 

He built a foundry next to his workshop, and you can tell he was using that foundry to cast some custom metal parts for the project...He made his prototype from a bunch of stuff you can buy at a hardware store, like sections of pipe screwed together and some sheet metal he cut with tin snips. It was very creative and it worked to solve the problem he was trying to solve. 

What he ended up developing was the first impact sprinkler. This is a story that Heidi Hanson knows well, as her grandfather, Clem LeFetra, was one of the first people to adopt and share Orton’s invention. She explained:  

In that community, everyone helped everyone else when they were watering their crops in the orange groves...The community came together to make sure everyone’s crops did OK. Clem and Orton knew each other because they were helping in each other’s groves. Eventually my grandfather moved to Los Angeles as a salesperson for beekeeping equipment and he was the one who spread the word about Orton’s sprinkler. 

As more people were introduced to Orton’s sprinkler, and he continued to develop and improve it based on farmer’s feedback, it grew beyond him – into a company that still exists today. As Lauren wrote, “Though Hanson says Englehart never intended to sell the impact sprinkler, Clem and Mary LaFetra saw an opportunity to help farmers outside Glendora. With a patent in hand, Rain Bird was born, the impact sprinkler its first product.” 

Want to learn more about the impact sprinkler? Read Lauren’s full article.