Nice Rain Bird 35 and QC set up! Interesting to hear that LR Nelson and Rain Bird worked together back then. I have a couple newer Rain Bird 35 impacts.
I never knew that Nelson and Rainbird had worked together in this venture. It was a very creative idea to expand into a market where it was needed. Wonderful history presentation! Interesting type of quick coupler and key design that works really well. Thank you for sharing!..
Thanks, Dave. That 7642 from Nelson was the only quick coupler I ran into in my first summer of irrigation in 1986. It was only when I changed jobs that I leaned it wasn’t like most quick couplers. I think it’s superior to the standard valves, having a spring loaded top a short body height, and acme threads (though it does take longer to bottom out the key), but it’s not the norm.
@@antiquesprinklersI noticed in the video in your demonstration of placeing the key into the valve, that it took a little more turning to bottom out. I’m used to the Buckner and Rainbird valves having a different style in the key way. The Thompson quick coupler valve and keys are different as well. Thanks again for the great presentation!
@oldschoolsprinklers9000 yes! I have an early Thompson quick coupler and Key with their old above ground golf sprinkler on it. It’s acme, too. It’s an old idea, which surprised me.
Nice Rainbird 35PJ and QC setup! I don't have much knowledge of the QC setup but it is nice in case you need to run a bunch of heads say on a golf course. Rainbird did a good job with the angle of the PJ tube on these as well. You really don't see many heads with the DA designation (when I was collecting brass heads usually they were the ADJ models). I had always thought the DA model designation was more obscure than it's counterpart. The sound of the PJ tube is something I never will forget as I have a bunch of models of brass impacts with the PJ tube design. The first for me to rememeber was the 25PJ (the iconic head used in the 15111A) and the Western Brass models with the PJ tube as well! The sound is unmistakable. Appreciate the history of Nelson and Rainbird's collab and Rainy sprinkler sales. Thank you for sharing! It won't be much longer and I will need to put my setup away for the year. I can't believe summer is almost gone. Sprinklers like this really do bring you back as far as memories go. I hope to get my setup out again soon, I ordered parts f or my Sime big River so i can test it.
I was just mentioning to someone else this morning that this summer has sprinted by. I never get as much done as I’d hoped I would. I like your observation about the sound those PJ’s make. It’s true, and a neat aspect when you run them. Each of these impacts sounds a little different even if the basic sound is the same. The brass wedges really sound unique to me. I started on a video yesterday of a Buckner wedge drive form the 1930’s that really makes a unique sound.
I love hearing the history. I did not know that Nelson and Rain Bird did work together essentially helping each other out. It seems that in the long run Rain Bird benefited more so than Nelson, but it is a little unusual that both are doing well in their specialties. Bosch, Nelson, Gilmour are all owned by the Fiskars company and that is why every so often a Fiskar sprinkler will show up. I never thought of Bosch as a sprinkler company. The fact that the unusual Gilmour products are still around is kind of a surprise, and I think it is kind of because of their unique designs and specialties. I know there are several different designs for the keys used for the different quick couplers. The Nelson design was just one of them. Thank you again for sharing all of the details.
A neighbor in California had a backyard full of these. He had each one on an about a 12-inch riser, each with its own valve so he can water just one part of the lawn or all of it. If he wasn't using them, he had small totem poles he would put over each one. I thought it was a neat set up.
Once again, I have to say that I really love your historical accounts. I've been collecting impacts since I was a little boy (born in So Cal in '62) and my favorites are rain bird impacts paired with very heavy, waaaaay over engineered for durability, almost art deco-ish Rainy Sprinkler Sales "butterfly" cast iron bases. I've often wondered if Rainy Sprinkler Sales was a Nelson brand and to see that it actually was is cool to me beyond belief! I have a question, if I may. Did Nelson perhaps start with cast iron bases, then switch or add cast aluminum (briefly?), before going all zinc? The zinc bases seem to be a dime-a-dozen and over the years I've found quite a few iron bases paired with just about every 1/2 inch and 3/4 inch RB head from 25A to the stubby 45. However, I have only found one aluminum base (paired with a second generation 25 impact). Anyway, I hope you continue your labor of love. Hope you and Kerry Vinci produce some more gems too. Your dedicated fan - Ruben☺
Thanks for the kind words, Rueben. I learn a lot from detail-oriented, passionate collectors like you. That’s been one of the best parts of putting out videos. I’m envious of your growing up in the sprinkler Garden of Eden. I agree with your take on Rain Bird impacts. Best made, and they had so many options for different agricultural scenario. A complete collection of every variant and era would reach into the 100’s of sprinklers. A Midwestern brand that was also over engineered and built out of ridiculously heavy duty materials was Skinner. I would not have wanted to carry their wedge-driven impacts around a golf course. I might do a video where I put them on a scale with equivalents from other manufacturers. My experience with Nelson bases (I like how you described it - I could immediately picture it) matches your observations, but I’d want to double check some of what I have in my collection before I said I was certain about aluminum being in the mix. I believe it was, and they definitely started out with cast iron. I really like that the they made that same style of base for decades. I have too many of them in my basement, but they each have a variant or version of a sprinkler on them that makes them unique (in the universe if my collection, anyway). It’s happened for me a few times where connections I think I see through products are later confirmed in catalogs, advertising, or a newspaper article. It makes these mysteries we see (like a Rain Bird sprinkler on a base from Peoria, IL over and over) fun to solve. This is especially true in the videos Kerry and I make. To say we agonize over it isn’t really accurate, because it’s fun, but we try so hard to get the sprinklers and their variants in the right order. We try to use advertising for years where we don’t have catalogs. It’s tricky piecing it back together decades later. Especially because irrigation companies were always relatively small manufacturers, and people have a habit of not valuing a technical sheet or catalog while it is still relatively new; so, they throw most of them away. Anyway, that’s more than you asked for. Appreciate your watching, and your comments even mire.
@@antiquesprinklers You are very welcome! Thanks for your thoughtful response!! By the way, I agree with you regarding the massiveness of Skinner products. Funny thing, in the early Ebay days (around 2000ish) I won a box of them. Seeing the UPS guy courageously attempting to deliver them to my door was kind of interesting - poor guy! By the way, growing up in So Cal in the 70s in fact was a sprinkler "Garden of Eden" - every park, every freeway, and every residential lawn seemed to be irrigated by some RB or Buckner product. Alas, though, the plastic gear drive has almost completely taken over. There is one place though, that still has tons of old impact in service - the Huntington Library in San Marino (approx 5 miles from Downtown LA). While little old ladies can be found fawning over some rare flora, I can still stand just earshot from them and marvel over a 1940's RB 70 stoically clapping away in the distance splashing water over some priceless 16th century marble figure that foolishly stands in its way...🙂
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Nice Rain Bird 35 and QC set up! Interesting to hear that LR Nelson and Rain Bird worked together back then. I have a couple newer Rain Bird 35 impacts.
Thank you!
I never knew that Nelson and Rainbird had worked together in this venture. It was a very creative idea to expand into a market where it was needed.
Wonderful history presentation!
Interesting type of quick coupler and key design that works really well.
Thank you for sharing!..
Thanks, Dave. That 7642 from Nelson was the only quick coupler I ran into in my first summer of irrigation in 1986. It was only when I changed jobs that I leaned it wasn’t like most quick couplers. I think it’s superior to the standard valves, having a spring loaded top a short body height, and acme threads (though it does take longer to bottom out the key), but it’s not the norm.
@@antiquesprinklersI noticed in the video in your demonstration of placeing the key into the valve, that it took a little more turning to bottom out. I’m used to the Buckner and Rainbird valves having a different style in the key way. The Thompson quick coupler valve and keys are different as well.
Thanks again for the great presentation!
@oldschoolsprinklers9000 yes! I have an early Thompson quick coupler and Key with their old above ground golf sprinkler on it. It’s acme, too. It’s an old idea, which surprised me.
@@antiquesprinklershow cool!. One day I will find a Thompson key to mate with my Thompson quick coupler valve!.
@oldschoolsprinklers9000 I would guess they are out there and people just have no idea what they are.
Nice Rainbird 35PJ and QC setup! I don't have much knowledge of the QC setup but it is nice in case you need to run a bunch of heads say on a golf course. Rainbird did a good job with the angle of the PJ tube on these as well. You really don't see many heads with the DA designation (when I was collecting brass heads usually they were the ADJ models). I had always thought the DA model designation was more obscure than it's counterpart. The sound of the PJ tube is something I never will forget as I have a bunch of models of brass impacts with the PJ tube design. The first for me to rememeber was the 25PJ (the iconic head used in the 15111A) and the Western Brass models with the PJ tube as well! The sound is unmistakable. Appreciate the history of Nelson and Rainbird's collab and Rainy sprinkler sales. Thank you for sharing! It won't be much longer and I will need to put my setup away for the year. I can't believe summer is almost gone. Sprinklers like this really do bring you back as far as memories go. I hope to get my setup out again soon, I ordered parts f or my Sime big River so i can test it.
I was just mentioning to someone else this morning that this summer has sprinted by. I never get as much done as I’d hoped I would.
I like your observation about the sound those PJ’s make. It’s true, and a neat aspect when you run them. Each of these impacts sounds a little different even if the basic sound is the same. The brass wedges really sound unique to me. I started on a video yesterday of a Buckner wedge drive form the 1930’s that really makes a unique sound.
I love hearing the history. I did not know that Nelson and Rain Bird did work together essentially helping each other out. It seems that in the long run Rain Bird benefited more so than Nelson, but it is a little unusual that both are doing well in their specialties. Bosch, Nelson, Gilmour are all owned by the Fiskars company and that is why every so often a Fiskar sprinkler will show up. I never thought of Bosch as a sprinkler company. The fact that the unusual Gilmour products are still around is kind of a surprise, and I think it is kind of because of their unique designs and specialties. I know there are several different designs for the keys used for the different quick couplers. The Nelson design was just one of them. Thank you again for sharing all of the details.
Thanks. I didn’t know Fiskar bought those companies. I also never thought of Bosch as a sprinkler company.
Didn’t know the Rain Bird and Nelson were together, either. Great history and an even greater historian. Thank you!
@robertstone5476 you’re too kind. Thanks for watching it. I was surprised when I first learned of that collaboration.
A neighbor in California had a backyard full of these. He had each one on an about a 12-inch riser, each with its own valve so he can water just one part of the lawn or all of it. If he wasn't using them, he had small totem poles he would put over each one. I thought it was a neat set up.
That’s really cool. There’s a house in my neighborhood with copper risers with Rain Bird 25’s on them. I like the way they look.
Once again, I have to say that I really love your historical accounts. I've been collecting impacts since I was a little boy (born in So Cal in '62) and my favorites are rain bird impacts paired with very heavy, waaaaay over engineered for durability, almost art deco-ish Rainy Sprinkler Sales "butterfly" cast iron bases. I've often wondered if Rainy Sprinkler Sales was a Nelson brand and to see that it actually was is cool to me beyond belief! I have a question, if I may. Did Nelson perhaps start with cast iron bases, then switch or add cast aluminum (briefly?), before going all zinc? The zinc bases seem to be a dime-a-dozen and over the years I've found quite a few iron bases paired with just about every 1/2 inch and 3/4 inch RB head from 25A to the stubby 45. However, I have only found one aluminum base (paired with a second generation 25 impact). Anyway, I hope you continue your labor of love. Hope you and Kerry Vinci produce some more gems too. Your dedicated fan - Ruben☺
Thanks for the kind words, Rueben. I learn a lot from detail-oriented, passionate collectors like you. That’s been one of the best parts of putting out videos. I’m envious of your growing up in the sprinkler Garden of Eden.
I agree with your take on Rain Bird impacts. Best made, and they had so many options for different agricultural scenario. A complete collection of every variant and era would reach into the 100’s of sprinklers. A Midwestern brand that was also over engineered and built out of ridiculously heavy duty materials was Skinner. I would not have wanted to carry their wedge-driven impacts around a golf course. I might do a video where I put them on a scale with equivalents from other manufacturers.
My experience with Nelson bases (I like how you described it - I could immediately picture it) matches your observations, but I’d want to double check some of what I have in my collection before I said I was certain about aluminum being in the mix. I believe it was, and they definitely started out with cast iron. I really like that the they made that same style of base for decades. I have too many of them in my basement, but they each have a variant or version of a sprinkler on them that makes them unique (in the universe if my collection, anyway).
It’s happened for me a few times where connections I think I see through products are later confirmed in catalogs, advertising, or a newspaper article. It makes these mysteries we see (like a Rain Bird sprinkler on a base from Peoria, IL over and over) fun to solve. This is especially true in the videos Kerry and I make. To say we agonize over it isn’t really accurate, because it’s fun, but we try so hard to get the sprinklers and their variants in the right order. We try to use advertising for years where we don’t have catalogs. It’s tricky piecing it back together decades later. Especially because irrigation companies were always relatively small manufacturers, and people have a habit of not valuing a technical sheet or catalog while it is still relatively new; so, they throw most of them away. Anyway, that’s more than you asked for. Appreciate your watching, and your comments even mire.
@@antiquesprinklers You are very welcome! Thanks for your thoughtful response!! By the way, I agree with you regarding the massiveness of Skinner products. Funny thing, in the early Ebay days (around 2000ish) I won a box of them. Seeing the UPS guy courageously attempting to deliver them to my door was kind of interesting - poor guy! By the way, growing up in So Cal in the 70s in fact was a sprinkler "Garden of Eden" - every park, every freeway, and every residential lawn seemed to be irrigated by some RB or Buckner product. Alas, though, the plastic gear drive has almost completely taken over. There is one place though, that still has tons of old impact in service - the Huntington Library in San Marino (approx 5 miles from Downtown LA). While little old ladies can be found fawning over some rare flora, I can still stand just earshot from them and marvel over a 1940's RB 70 stoically clapping away in the distance splashing water over some priceless 16th century marble figure that foolishly stands in its way...🙂
@1caculusman that’s tremendous. When I’m next in Southern California, I have a pilgrimage to make. Fortunately, the Mrs likes a library.