Issue link: http://psai.uberflip.com/i/1406432
6 I PSAI Association Insight, September 1, 2021 Jeff Wolfarth "I started work at Mr. John [of Pittsburgh] during my summer vacations in 1973 and 1974. My job was to repair and paint wooden units. Although I never built one from scratch I may as well have [done it] because the wood was always rotten when they returned. We had two styles – slanted roof and A-frame roof. The walls, floor, [and] roof w[ere] all plywood. I feel certain that Morton Weiner (Mitch Weiner's dad) came up with the design because he started Mr. John in New Jersey and built the first units. The tank was a metal 55-gallon drum section with a square hole for the main drop and a small hole for the garden hose that was attached to the square metal urinal. In the rear there was a trap door to remove and replace the metal tank that rusted out often. The seat was mounted to the plywood. We used a hole saw and cut three 3" holes near the top of all three sides and we stapled screen door screen over top of the holes. Once a month or so I would spend the day with a cutting torch cutting the holes in the metal 55- Wooden Portable Restroom Units – A Long History (continued from page 5) gallon drums. Vanilla extract must have been cheap back then because we used it to spray on the inside of the units. Those drums smelled the best when I hit them with the torch. I am not sure why, but all units were painted a dark reddish-brown color called "Tinners Red." We would repair during the week and save Saturdays for spray paint- ing. We had a great spray gun system. We would get all covered up and then spray 20 units at a time. Somehow, we always man- aged to get overspray on our neighbors' cars and trucks and would spend the next week buffing out their vehicles. At one point every piece of clothing I owned had "Tinners Red" on them! The weight was another matter. I'm not sure of their weight but they were somewhere around what a NuConcept unit weighs today. Elton Tamplin I started in this industry back in April of 1979 right out of high school. I didn't want to go to college, I didn't want to join the army, I just wanted to get a job. So I approached my uncle Bob Young who was shop manager for Chem Can Portable Toilets in Arlington Texas. Chem Can was owned by CW Halbert who was instrumental in helping start the PSAI. I was very familiar with the company because they leased land from my grandparents for their shop and yard which happened to be on the same street where at least 5 of my relatives lived. I can't tell you how many times as a small kid I would hop on the side of one truck as it went down the road past us playing in the street. Just for reference, when you're playing hide and seek, a great place to hide is in a sea of wooden toilets lined up like soldiers. (continued on page 8) Mr. John wood units in the 1970s.