Amy Vach

Catalog Number: 2021.002.01

With all of this snow and dropping temperatures, it’s pleasant to imagine a warm summer day working outside.

This handy Aim-Spray “sprinkler unit” designed and manufactured in La Crosse was just the thing to help water your lawn, or so two La Crosse residents thought. In 1949, Philip Dyer of 1716 Winnebago St. and Robert Dummer of 936 Ferry St. joined forces to eliminate the several hours a week that they were wasting standing outside holding the garden hose to water their lawns and plants.

Dyer and Dummer separately drew up plans for an invention that would hold the garden hose in a locked position. When the pair met to share their designs, they were shocked to see how similar their drawings were.

That same year, they applied for a patent; however, the patent office had a backlog of over 135,000 patent applications. Eventually, on March 31, 1951, they were granted their patent.

An April 1950 La Crosse Tribune article describes the Aim-Spray as resembling “a giant firecracker, with an adjustable clamp replacing the fuse. The base is 1½ inches in diameter and 20 inches high, with a spike on the bottom to anchor the holder in the ground and an adjustable clamp on top to hold any size hose. The hose holder weighs only nine ounces.”

A month later, an advertisement in the La Crosse Tribune for the new invention with a small graphic showed how the Aim-Spray functioned. The Aim-Spray could be purchased for $1 in select hardware stores or by mail order for $1.20.

Aim-Spray Co. operated out of the Rivoli Building in downtown La Crosse. At this time, Dyer was working as a manager at the Strand Theater, and Dummer was working at Trane Company. Later in life, Dyer worked as the sales manager at WKTY, whereas Dummer continued working for Trane Co.

Another advertisement appeared in a 1951 La Crosse Tribune, and that seems to be the last time that Aim-Spray Co. advertised in the paper. Aim-Spray Co. did not make it into the La Crosse City Directory listings for the Rivoli Building, possibly meaning that this company did not last long after receiving its patent.

This hose-holder was recently donated to the La Crosse County Historical Society by Carol and Mark Francksen.

This article was originally published in the La Crosse Tribune on January 31, 2020

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