Rain Bird Corporation is a large privately held manufacturer

Manufacturing

Manufacturing is the use of machines, tools and labor to produce goods for use or sale. The term may refer to a range of human activity, from handicraft to high tech, but is most commonly applied to industrial production, in which raw materials are transformed into finished goods on a large scale...

 and provider of irrigation

Irrigation

Irrigation may be defined as the science of artificial application of water to the land or soil. It is used to assist in the growing of agricultural crops, maintenance of landscapes, and revegetation of disturbed soils in dry areas and during periods of inadequate rainfall...

 products and services, based in Azusa, California

Azusa, California

Azusa is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. The population was 46,361 at the 2010 census, up from 44,712 at the 2000 census. Though sometimes assumed to be a compaction of the phrase "everything from A to Z in the USA" from an old Jack Benny joke, the place name "Azusa"...

.
Rain Bird had its origins in early 1933 when California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

 citrus

Citrus

Citrus is a common term and genus of flowering plants in the rue family, Rutaceae. Citrus is believed to have originated in the part of Southeast Asia bordered by Northeastern India, Myanmar and the Yunnan province of China...

 grower Orton Englehardt developed the first prototype of the horizontal action impact sprinkler

Impact sprinkler

An Impact sprinkler is a type of Irrigation sprinkler.-Development:The original horizontal action impact drive sprinkler was invented by Los Angeles citrus farmer Orton Englehardt in 1933 and patented in 1935...

. The new design offered slow rotation and more efficient watering that other sprinklers of that era, features that were long sought after by local irrigators.