Century-Old and Sturdy Sprinkler Still Much the Same Today

Once upon a time, an industrial America made durable objects out of heavy metals like iron.

The Fort Concho item of the month is from this era, a cast iron water sprinkler.

“We used it in a program we did with SAISD gifted and talented students called ‘object study,’” Bob Bluthardt, site manager of Fort Concho explained. “Teach them the major points of how to be a historical detective.”

Color, shape, mechanics, material function, writing and other related issues that were taught to the 6th grade students in the class.

“We try to teach the students the difference in decorative and functional,” Bluthardt said.

One item used to teach this lesson is the water sprinkler that is a combination of decorative and functional.

The sprinkler, made of cast iron, functionally distributes water much like the modern day version, but also has the metal molded into designs.

“You could take this and put it to a 2013 year model and there would be little difference in 125 years of manufacturing,” Bluthartd explained.

“In 1890 we had achieved a certain standard of living,” he added, describing how the more affluent among the San Angelo area desired green lawns.

The sprinkler was donated to Fort Concho in 1951 by Oscar Ruffini, the first architect in the city of San Angelo.

In 1950 Ruffini was nearing 90 years of age, so he donated many of his personal effects to the fort, including his house on the property and one cast iron sprinkler.

Bluthardt jokes that he likely used the same sprinkler for many years, being a ‘thrifty fellow'.

“It would probably still work,” he explained, if one hooked a hose up to it. “They haven’t really improved upon this.”

Comparatively, many things made of heavier metals have been replaced with plastic versions or lighter metals.

“It’s going to be the thinnest aluminum, and if a dog steps on it, it’s done,” Bluthardt explained, “but if you ran over this [cast iron sprinkler] with a truck, you’d wreck the truck.

“It’s not just a sprinkler, it’s a reflection of a different era when things were made to last,” he said, and punctuated his statement by knocking the metal on the desk.