Portable Sanitation Association International

18 I PSAI Association Insight, July 7, 2021 Fiberglass Units – The Bridge Between Wood and Plastic (continued from page 17) while Phil Carter had exported units to Brazil and Saudi Arabia, the ocean freight costs were prohibitive. Frank Ranson left The Phil Carter Systems in 2008, joined PolyJohn, and then retired in 2010. The Phil Carter System is still in existence today, although they stopped manufacturing portable restrooms in the mid-1990s. Frank Ranson was truly a person that wanted to "give back" to the portable restroom industry. He was very involved in both the PSAI and the former Southeastern Portable Sanitation Association, where I met him in the late 1990s. He was friendly, dynamic, and always made the time to answer questions or to help address problems. Frank had worked with IBM, as had Terri and I, so we had many stories to share with each other. Frank Ranson was the recipient of the 1999 Andy Gump Award. There's more—fiberglass restroom trailers and the Big John. Olympic Fiberglass, founded by Bill Adams, successfully produced fiberglass restroom trailers as covered in our history of restroom trailers article. A lesser known but very unique fiberglass product in our industry was patented on February 9, 1982, by Bill Williams, Sr., of Johnny on the Spot in Youngstown, New York. Described as a "Portable Multiple-Toilet Building," this fiberglass product was known as the "Big John" due to its size and weight. Bill Reynolds, Jr. of Rent-A-John in Columbus, Ohio describes the Big John as a 5-stall restroom building with an enclosed urinal room on the back. Carried on a trailer, it could be lowered to the ground. (continued on page 20) Bill says, "[Bill Reynolds Sr.] developed the prototype of the Big John, and it was used at the 1976 Olympics in Montreal. It was well-received, so he continued development, finally receiving a patent in 1982." Bill Sr. had so much success with the Big John units that he had built 50 by the time Bill Jr. joined the company after college in 1983. Together, they constructed fifty more units, primarily for special event use. Bill Jr. states, "The Big Johns were so heavy and cumbersome that when we discontinued production in the late 80s, I was not disappointed."

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