RB Rubber: A Creative Beginning

Some guys are all big ideas and no follow through.

Dean Klaus's dad, John, had more ideas than he could find the time or money to follow through on. But one biggie he did actually get under way turned out quite good - for someone else.

From the time he was a little boy, Dean could recall John tinkering with something or other. The inventive product that stuck most in his mind, however, was not the one that turned into his father's lasting legacy.

The one Dean remembers best involved paving. The legacy invention involved mats. The two do share a common denominator, though. And that would be rubber.

At the end of World War II, John and his wife, Helen, welcomed Dean into the world. To support his family, John went to work for a gas station, then a paving company and finally the timber giant Weyerhaeuser.

He struck out on his own in 1953 with a one-man, one truck construction company. All the while, he couldn't resist experimenting with various materials, trying to come up with improved products.

The first one he hit on was a surface paving compound for running tracks. He mixed asphalt with old automobile tire buffing, producing a product that drained well in addition to proving durable and resilient.

He landed his first track-laying contract at Linfield College in 1962. A plaque commemorating the installation has been placed at the location, a site that once sported a lumber mill and log pond.

By 1967, Klaus had designed and built a machine to apply the surfacing and used it to replace quarter-mile ovals at the University of Washington, in addition to McMinnville High and other high schools throughout the Northwest.

He sold the business to Atlas Surfaces of Lake Oswego in 1974 and retreated to his shop to tinker some more.

After several unsuccessful attempts, he developed a machine capable of turning rubber "crumb" - finely chopped bits of rubber recycled from vehicle tires - into rubber mats. The machine heated the crumb, then compressed it in a mold.

Working from a small facility in McMinnville, he began using his prototype to make highly durable rubber mats for horse stables and launched a small business.

In 1985, Klaus sold the company to former Cascade Steel executive Ron Bogh, who named it RB Rubber and began to rapidly expand its capabilities.

He built a manufacturing plant on 10th Avenue to house larger versions of Klaus' original machine. Then he bought the Iowa Molding and Mat Co., allowing him to begin manufacturing gym mats and resilient surfaces for children's playgrounds in addition to mats for stable use.

In 1996, Bogh took the company public to raise additional capital. He used part of the proceeds to purchase his Portland-based crumb supplier - the recycling company that collected and shredded old tires.

By 2002, Bogh's supplier of binding material, Missouri-based DASH Multi-Corp., had begun purchasing RB stock. Eventually, it made Bogh a buy-out offer he couldn't refuse, and he settled into retirement.

RB Rubber has gone on to become the city's fifth largest employer.

According to the company's vice president of sales, Larry Lane, DASH's RB division employees number just over 100 at its manufacturing facility in McMinnville and another 35 at its recycling facility in Portland. It accounts for about $20 million of DASH's estimated $150 million in annual sales.

The privately held company is still managed by its founder, 82-year-old Marvin S. Wool, who simultaneously holds the titles of chairman, president and chief executive officer.

Wool founded DASH as a small plastics company in 1973. He took RB Rubber private once again in 2002, just two years after assuming ownership.

DASH now has 10 subsidiaries across the country. They are engaged in chemicals, rubber, recycling, flight services and pet products.

Klaus was 76 when he sold to Bogh. But in retirement, he continued to tinker. He was blessed with an inventive mind that never ceased to stop working.

He perfected food products, including an unpasteurized goat's milk, and developed a more efficient way of processing hazelnuts. He harnessed wave energy on a limited but workable scale. And he was able to refine his personal recycling to the point where he had to dump garbage only once a year.

John Klaus passed away on Jan. 2, 2010, at the Willamette Valley Medical Center. He would have turned 101 on Aug. 23.

And that's what I found out while OUT and ABOUT - searching for inventive ways to write about inventions that go well beyond my meager mind's ability to accurately describe.