Designer: Attributed to John George Evans

Item: Red Rocket Lawn Sprinkler

Manufactured by: W.D. Allen Manufacturing Company

Country of origin: United States

Year made: Early 1950s

Materials: Cat-iron, steel and paint

Dimensions: 9” x 12” x 7”

Condition: Very good in original paint. Perhaps the best condition example we have seen.

Description:  The Red Rocket lawn sprinkler is an iconic design manufactured by the W.D. Allen Manufacturing Company, located in Chicago, Illinois.  W. D. Allen first introduced its famous cast-iron Red Arrow lawn sprinkler in the late 1930s and it evolved over several iterations (perhaps as many as five) into this space-age rocket shape design, landing it somewhere between the Streamline and Atomic Age design paradigms. The initial Red Arrow design was patented by a W.D. Allen company engineer named John George Evans, from which we attribute this design.  These Red Rocket sprinklers are rare and have become quite collectable.  We have read, but have been unable to the determine the validity of this claim, that less than 200 of this Red Rocket model were ever made. 

References: Made in Chicago Museum website