The technology behind RxP and Flamex was developed by Dean F. Johnson

Dean F. Johnson was born in 1921 and grew up in Belleville, Illinois. After high school, he attended South Illinois University. His father, the honorable Calvin D. Johnson, was a general contractor. Dean began working with his father at a very early age. By the time he was fourteen he prepared payroll tax reports and in the summer of 1939 ran a road construction job in central Illinois. Dean’s father was a state representative at the time and later served in the U. S. Congress. Calvin Johnson’s brilliance and work philosophies had a dramatic effect on Dean, his brothers, and sister.

Dean kept plaques in his office that honored his father’s philosophy:

“The lives of lazy people are like drifting clouds. They pass but leave no mark upon the earth.”

“No man in good conscience can face the setting sun lest in his heart be knows I’ve made my way and God is pleased, He gave me life this day.”

“God gave man two feet. Stand on them firmly and proudly, ever keeping in mind they can lead as well as follow.”

The fourth plaque was inspired his first-grade school teacher: “You must respect old age and good women, but bend your knee to nothing but the Lord or a groundhog hole.”

The three oldest Johnson brothers (ages 21, 22 and 23) served in World War II. Barney, the middle brother, served as a fighter pilot and was killed in July 1943. Cal, the oldest brother, who worked as a combat engineer was crippled in 1943 in a military construction accident and was permanently handicapped. After years of painful convalescence, he built a very successful telephone doctors exchange from his bed.

Dean entered the Army Air Force in 1942, and served with the 8th Air Force in England during World War II. When his military service ended he worked for the Air Force for several years. It was here his management and organizational skills flowered. He served in various capacities with the Air Force where he eventually established the maintenance procedures and organizational restructuring that controlled 50,000 maintenance personnel and over 6,000 aircraft. In January 1955, Dean went into the real estate business with an uncle and a year later he started his own company. Leaning on the constructions skills he learned while working for his father, he was soon developing subdivisions, building homes and apartments.

In 1959 his paternal grandfather died in the old Johnson family home, which had been converted into a nursing home by the new owner. Dean felt the outdated elderly care methods employed by the home made his grandfather’s last days miserably unbearable. Dean vowed to build a decent modern nursing home in Belleville, Illinois.

In December, 1964 he accomplished his goal and completed his first nursing home. It was a 108 bed home next to the Memorial Hospital, which he sold to the hospital. Dean continued to build nursing homes until 1970 when his eighteen-hour days finally wore him down. He had accumulated a considerable amount of wealth and decided to retire.

Dean moved to Florida and occupied himself by playing golf, boating, flying, fishing and traveling. In 1972, he said his father’s philosophies caught up with him. He felt he was wasting his life and decided to get back in business. It was then he became involved with Flamex Industries, a company that blended specific hydrocarbons to increase flame temperature of propane and natural gas for steel cutting. The technology fascinated Dean enough that he was soon out of retirement and back in business.

In 1972, Dean became involved with Flamex Industries which marketed a product developed by B. E. Etter to the welding supply industry. This product was a blend of C5 and C6 hydrocarbons designed to increase the flame temperature of propane for use in metal cutting and treating.

“After several years of R&D, we learned to utilize the same compound to change the burn of natural gas which expanded the market reach of Flamex Industries. In layman’s terms, this blend concentrated the energy to the primary flame creating a higher temperature available to cut steel and to transfer energy into metal. It all started for me in 1972. The development of RxP technology was not yet been conceived at that time.” ¬ Dean F. Johnson, RxP Inventor