Some comments on Szczepkowski’s sprinkler irrigation machine and the early days of sprinkler irrigation of plants in the Wielkopolska and Kujawy region

The paper describes the first attempts at the sprinkler irrigation of plants in Poland which took place in the Kujawy and Wielkopolska Region more than a hundred years ago – at the early 20th century. The first original sprinkler irrigation machine was designed and the used by Mr Władysław Szczepkowski. The sprinkler irrigation machine he constructed in 1911, after earlier a few year trials (at Łęg, the Śrem county, the Poznań Province) was the first sprinkler irrigation machine built at such a large scale in Europe. The system developed by Szczepkowski found many followers in Germany, France, England and the USA. Szczepkowski’s sprinkler irrigation machine became a prototype for many later designs, e.g. the irrigation machines applied today rolled sprinkling pipelines.