P&Q Hall of Fame Profile: Louis W. Johnson

Johnson

Crushing. Screening. Portable processing.

Louis Johnson, the founder of El-Jay Manufacturing who introduced the Rollercone roller bearing cone crusher and the triple-shaft horizontal screen more than a half-century ago, made an impact on all these critical industry areas. The equipment Johnson brought forward remains highly relevant today.

“Mr. Johnson’s inventions and companies helped to revolutionize the aggregate-processing industry – especially portable aggregate-processing equipment,” says Cade Seeley, director of purchasing at Kimball Equipment Co.”

For instance, before the Rollercone, bushing-style cones like the Symons had less of a rival.

“His was the first that used roller bearings,” Seeley says of Johnson’s Rollercone. “If your cone’s properly maintained, then those roller bearings can last infinitely. The benefit is they last a lot longer than a bushing style. The drawback is the expense of having to fix them.”

That several of today’s equipment manufacturers offer a version of Johnson’s crusher is a testament to the effectiveness of his model.

“The Cedarapids MVP cones are roller bearing crushers, and so are the JCI Kodiaks,” says Seeley, adding that Kimball Equipment decades ago was the second dealer to represent El-Jay Manufacturing. “Also, Superior’s Dakota is a roller bearing cone crusher.”

Johnson’s triple-shaft horizontal screen remains an industry staple, as well.

“Superior makes it,” Seeley says. “Trio, which is now Weir, makes it – as does JCI. McLanahan makes one. Every ConExpo, somebody else is making one.”

The early years

El-Jay Manufacturing was not only instrumental in the advancement of crushing, but screening as well. Photo: Susan Moorhead

While Susan Moorhead, the last living child of Louis Johnson, isn’t familiar with the intricacies of the equipment El-Jay Manufacturing produced, she had the unique experience of growing up around the company and seeing her father in action.

Now 70, Moorhead says her father and grandfather acquired a gravel pit in Glenwood, Oregon, near Eugene in the late 1930s. The two focused on producing gravel – not machinery, at the time – but Johnson learned how to work on rock crushers from manufacturers like Symons and Telsmith.

After World War II broke out, Johnson joined the Navy. His dream of developing a crusher of his own, however, was manifesting.

“While he was in the Navy, he started to imagine what design he might be able to come up with,” Moorhead says.

Alongside his wife Anne – a Navy veteran herself whom Johnson met during the war – a business was established in Eugene.

“Mom worked alongside him,” Moorhead says. “Their apartment was a part of the building. You walked out the apartment door, and there was the office.”

Reflecting on the past, Moorhead says she realizes her parents’ business had become a successful one in the 1960s.

“It probably was in 1965, says Moorhead, recollecting how El-Jay licensed a company in France to build El-Jay equipment. “My father went over in 1965 and spent about six weeks with them. The following year, our family went over for the summer. He worked with the people in Grenoble, France.”

As Moorhead describes, her father was a tireless worker.

“He started working young, and he worked hard,” she says. “He only knew hard work. That was just part of the fiber of his being. And so, he worked until he died. He was 91.”

Johnson’s later years

Louis Johnson, right, discusses features of El-Jay Manufacturing’s Rollercone roller bearing cone crusher with ESCO’s Bob Anderson. Photo: Susan Moorhead

After selling El-Jay Manufacturing in the mid-1970s, Johnson took on a few other ventures. Moorhead says he started a company called JLB alongside his son, Bruce.

“They built the Ultracone cone crusher,” she says.

By 1984, Johnson was on to another venture involving something completely different.

“He started what was called Fore-Ward Golf,” says Moorhead, adding that her dad was an avid golfer. “He had come up with an idea of fabricating custom golf clubs. They had a swing machine where the individual’s swing was analyzed. Then, the club was custom fitted to him.”

While the concept was cutting-edge, Moorhead says the business did not prove viable. Later in life, Johnson ventured into crushing one final time with a business called Durable Crushers.

“My memory is that started in 2004,” Moorhead says. “He called [the crusher] the Duracone. He did get a patent for the Duracone.”

In all, Johnson earned more than 50 patents. And he makes clear in his memoir that his success and happiness very much derived from his wife.

“He held her in high regard, both as a wife and as a person for her abilities and contributions,” Moorhead says. “He mentioned in his memoir how he so appreciated her willingness to let him do what he wanted to do [and] that she didn’t ever reign him in.”

Featured photo: Susan Moorhead

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