I bought this NOS Hardie Pope analogue water tap timer today at a Salvos store and have become curious about it's age since getting back home. The cardboard packaging looks old school but there's no clue about it's era of manufacture. Research on the web has come up with limited info but I have gleaned these tidbits so far. Hardie Pope was a brand of James Hardie Irrigation Pty Ltd South Australia. It was taken over (bought) by Toro of Minnesota U.S.A in 1996. It is now trading under the Pope name only. I found a Los Angeles Times article about the 96 Toro takeover dating from 1996 detailing how James Hardie Irrigation was a division of the global James Hardie group now acquired by Toro -who make mowers -for their irrigation products division. The article made mention of James Hardie becoming involved in the irrigation products business in 1978. I presume this is when they acquired or merged with Pope irrigation products to form Hardie Pope?
I'm placing the date as being in the 1980s some time as blister packs have been the favoured packaging method for decades now.
It could well be from the 1970s but the plastic looks a bit too pristine to be that old. Does anybody have a further clue as to the date of this item? If it's from as far back as the 70s, I don't think I want to use it! Not likely though.
While were on water products, does anyone know when plastic click on hose fittings came in?
Ahh, if only victa had kept producing the thumblatch catcher series, they would be in better shape today!
