c. 1938 Antique Buckner 1" Dual Drive Full Circle Brass Impact Sprinkler

[@oldschoolsprinklers9000]

I enjoy learning about the history of the Buckner dual drive.! It is really interesting to see the spring adjustments and how the sprinkler reacts. Can’t wait to see your “Rain Mobile”.! Very nice video presentation and thanks for sharing!

[@antiquesprinklers]

Thanks! Me, too!

[@photocontrol]

Very nice old Buckner 1" impact. It looks great after cleaning and runs good.

[@antiquesprinklers]

Thanks! Would love to see one of its big brothers on your sprinkler sled.

[@photocontrol]

@@antiquesprinklers Hopefully one day!

[@NelsonBigGunP200Fan]

Nice Buckner dual drive. I didn't know the giant and junior irrigators were dual drives as well. Interesting. Also cool you can adjust the tension on the fly like that with it operating. It runs good on your tripod setup! Thanks for sharing !

[@antiquesprinklers]

Thanks!

[@kerryvinci5287]

HI BILL, That head looks and runs good for a 86 year old sprinkler head! it is great to see it working. It really looks like a baby of the "Giant Irrigators" It doesn't seem to drive as strong as I would have suspected, almost like the wedge and stream are a bit out of alignment, it appears that the wedge is too low into the stream; maybe from the end of the lever bent or sagged over the years; my giant irrigators have the same issue and always have wondered if weight or extraneous force has deformed the lever over time or if they were originally that way? Nice to see it going with the lighter spring tension to get a bit more swing..... I can't wait to see the RainMobile too. Thanks for showing great American engineering!

[@antiquesprinklers]

Thanks! It certainly could have sagged over the last 9 decades. Happy it runs as well as it does, and we’ll see how it goes when its “base” comes back from getting spiffed up.

[@robertstone5476]

Fascinating! Skinner impacts also had a tension adjuster on the top, right? Great video. Thank you!

[@antiquesprinklers]

Thanks! Yes, Skinner did that, too.

[@randyvanheusden732]

It is an interesting design and a different style of wedge. It seemed to work as you said it would. It did not move as quickly as I kind of expected for a wedge design, but then it might be due to the different design. I was looking for the spot where the arm actually hit the body to make it move. I am guessing that the impact was at the front side, but I missed something and not sure as I try to understand the engineering. I like the slower movement of the arm. Thank you for all of the history and sharing your video.

[@antiquesprinklers]

Thanks!

[@antiquesprinklers]

The lever strikes the sprinkler directly behind the fulcrum pin. It’s not super obvious. Tried to add a photo to the comments, but I can’t seem to make that happen.

[@randyvanheusden732]

@@antiquesprinklers Thank you for sharing those details as it is kind of well hidden. I saw a sprinkler that looks much like that on ebay, but I would not be able to do anything but look at it and show it.

[@jordansmith4775]

So what were you adjusting on the sprinkler in the video? I see you let it run for a couple seconds and then you readjust it

[@antiquesprinklers]

I was changing the spring tension. One of the features of the sprinkler is the ability to change the lever spring tension in place without tools.

[@1caculusman]

Beautiful video work, as usual! I saw your old sprinkler on ebay a few weeks back - I'm really glad you "rescued" it and added it to your video archives. I have a question - I noticed that right in front of the wedge there is a big chuck of brass that act like a baffle that only allows the spray pattern of the wedge to fan out to the right. Is the purpose of this piece of metal to help propel the sprinklers arm further from the stream to gather momentum for the impact, or was this Buckner's way of closely imitating Rain Birds spoon design without directly infringing on Engelhart's original 1997901 patent? Again, thank you for your work - I really look forward to your content!!!! -Ruben

[@antiquesprinklers]

Thanks, Rueben. I’d normally not buy something like a Rainmobile, but when I sensed it was a predecessor to the one with which I was familiar I felt like I didn’t have a choice. I’d also never seen an example of that style of single-nozzled, full circle dual drive. To find it could be dated to roughly a 17 month period was an unexpected bonus. I’m not entirely sure about the deflector behind the wedge assembly other than to say I wouldn’t be surprised if it served the purpose you mention (helping to move the lever and load the spring).