Issue link: http://psai.uberflip.com/i/599004
Page 5 PSAI Industry Retrospective - the 70s AN EARLY HISTORIC SPECIAL EVENT Would the general public ever be exposed to portable restrooms outside of the shipbuilding, commercial, and home building industry segments that were springing up around the country? From August 15-18, 1969 in Bethel, New York, the "Woodstock Music and Art Fair" was to be held and promised "three days of peace and music." We all know that this ticketed event where 186,000 tickets were sold turned into a 500,000 person free event that symbolized this era of American culture and made music history. Despite reports that Woodstock had no sanitation available, this was NOT the case! Bill Reynolds, Sr. of Columbus, Ohio and his family provided portable sanitation to Woodstock. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Bill Reynolds, Sr., he was a true innovator and pioneer of our industry. Sadly we lost him on October 25, 2011 but his spirit and love for the industry lives on as is exemplified by the following story told by his son, Bill, Jr.: "My Dad met with Michael Lang, one of the founders and promoters of Woodstock to discuss sanitation for this event. My Dad already had a history of providing sanitation at large events. His company had provided 350 restrooms for the 250,000 people that attended Martin Luther King, Jr's "March on Washington" in 1963. My Dad made plans for a 20 foot by 8 foot wooden building with 10 doors and a urinal room for use at Woodstock. ere was a 600 gallon steel tank attached that would store the waste. Mr. Lange and the Woodstock organizers wanted 15 of these buildings. Our company and our family helped to construct all of these facilities. We were located in Athens, Ohio which was roughly 450 miles from the Woodstock location. We carried one of these buildings on a flatbed truck and another one on an attached trailer. Eight trips of this 900-mile round trip completed installation." I was nine years old and with my three sisters, my Mom, and my Dad, we went to Woodstock with 23 men and 10 pick-up service trucks. Our service trucks had a 500 gallon steel former propane tank for waste and a 300 gallon tank for water. Needless to say, the crowd was enormous and Woodstock became the 2nd largest city in the state during this time. Even though they had to helicopter in the bands to avoid the chaos, the show went on and we did what we could to service our 15 restroom houses. I have fond memories of my Dad and his determination to succeed in this, and all, special events. I distinctly remember seeing Janis Joplin at Woodstock. My Dad and I went back for the 25th Anniversary in 1994 and the 30th Anniversary in 1999. I don't know that many people can say that they have been to all three Woodstock concerts." EARLY MANUFACTURERS Manufacturing of portable restrooms was beginning to take root in the late-60s and early-70s as well as the development of two new materials, fiberglass and plastic. Wooden units retained odor, were handmade, and heavy to maneuver. Fiberglass was a viable alternative material but it eventually failed in acceptance due its brittle nature. Plastic was becoming the miracle material of this era. Lightweight and impervious to water this material dramatically reduced the weight of the unit and was easier to clean due to its nonporous characteristics. e "plastics revolution" was led by three manufacturers: • George Harding. In the mid-1960s, George had several SaniJohn franchises in Florida and would travel in a car pulling a trailer with two "PolySan" units attached. He would sell these units to various portable restroom operators throughout the U.S. and Canada. George invented the polyethylene portable toilet and became partners with Ed Cooper and George Hiskes to form PolyJohn Enterprises in Whiting, Indiana. • Ed Craon. Ed founded PolyPortables in Bradenton, Florida in 1972. A fire in his plastics manufacturing facility in 1974 led Ed to conclude that he should relocate to Arkansas due to its more centralized geographic location. A side trip on the way back to Florida led him to Dahlonega, Georgia and that became PolyPortables' permanent home. • Al Hilde. Satellite began producing polyethylene portable restrooms in 1972. e first units were plywood with medium density plastic glued to it. Al travelled to St. Louis with his young son, Todd, and examined plastic bleachers in an old sports stadium in order to get his idea for Satellite's first plastic units. HISTORY OF THE DEODORIZER Ken Holyoak was in the recreational vehicle industry in Ohio in the 1960s. He remembers that he took the name off of a restroom unit and called that operator about his RV deodorizing product. According to Ken, "I le the gentlemen with a complementary 55 gallon drum of RV deodorizer for his use in his toilets. When I followed up with him some time later, he ordered four more drums. I was definitely on to something." According to Ken, deodorizers were well-known since the 1930s and 40s with formaldehyde deodorizer being used in the early DC-3 airplanes and the blue color being present in the Boeing 707s in 1958. e need for industry-specific deodorizers was being met by the emergence of new manufacturers of these products. Among these was J&J Chemical was founded in 1967 by Jerry and Judy Boyd. Jerry worked with several chemists to change deodorizers from harsh chemical smells and white emulsion to cherry perfume with a pleasing blue color that masked the color brown in the waste tank.