The image below is from the 1969 Blue Chip Stamp Rewards Catalog. Perhaps the most complete listing of Rid-Jid Patio Furniture.
Rid-Jid Patio furniture was introduced in 1961 by the J.R. Clark Company of Spring Hill, Minnesota. The Company applied for a patent for the signature hoop shaped folding chairs in 1961, subsequently issued as No. 3,086,813 n 1963. Rid-Jid Furniture marketing began in 1961 and continued through at least 1975 although production apparently ceased around 1972 when the factory and tooling was liquidated.
Shortly after introduction of the patio line, Company President Donald Munson told the Minneapolis Star: “Analysis of the outdoor furniture market revealed to J.R. Clark that the market was polarized, with low-priced, "junky" products at one end and high-priced, "ornate" products at the other. We felt that engineers who could design good ironing boards and ladders could design good outdoor furniture. So J.R. Clark aimed at the unoccupied middle ground, by turning out a product that was popularly priced while avoiding the "junk" category.”
John R. Clark got his start manufacturing wooden crates in 1878. His grandson assumed leadership in the 1930s and expanded the ladder, clothes rack, cedar chest, clothes pins and ironing board lines. In 1938 the Company introduced a steel mesh ironing board which became an industry standard. These expanded mesh ironing board tops clearly informed the designs for the patio furniture. J.R. Clark did all its metal processing in house after receiving steel in coils and rolls from the steel mills. They were unwound and run through a highly automated production line for cutting, tubing, meshing and everything else required for the Rid-Jid lines. At one point, the Company employed 500 people in round the clock shifts to keep up with demand.
Rid-Jid patio furniture sold well. National, regional and local retailers sold Rid-Jid sets and individual pieces. Rid-Jid was on offer through loyalty programs including Blue Chip and S&H Stamp rewards catalogs. A 1962 promotion had tables and chairs on display at Minneapolis Arean Texaco Gas Stations. I did not find Rid-Jid patio furniture in the mid-1960s JC Penny, Montgomery Ward or Sears catalogs I examined.
The earliest newspaper ad I found was in the April 23, 1962 Newark (NJ) Star Ledger offering a Rid-Jid Table with square back folding mesh chairs at Kresge Department Stores. The following April 21, the hoop style chairs with a square mesh table were offered in an Oakland (CA) Tribune Breunner’s Home Furnishings ad. Advertising continued through 1975 although the latest ads offered Rid-Jid at significant discounts and likely offered stock remaining after production had ended.