Key Figures · Parts maker and inventor

Kenneth F. Klus

Registrant of the OCEAN PRO PRODUCTS trademark from 1987 and later of OCEAN PRO and VORTEX flame arrestors for personal watercraft; on the archive's reading of the Ocean Pro name, named as its owner by a 1988 magazine.

1. The early years, in print, 1981 to 1993 (this page's records)
2. The makers and their machines, 1985 to 2005 (this page's records)
3. Noise, safety and federal rules, 1996 to 2002
4. The rule book years, 2002 to 2018
5. Three rule books, 2021 to 2026

1990200020102020

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Design and invention

Likely

Personal Watercraft Illustrated's issue of February 1988, volume 2 number 1, says the magazine went to him as a professional in the field, and quotes him explaining how the wave behaves in an exhaust pipe.

Sources: PWI February 1988 search text

1988 and 1991 · Likely

US design patent D317,431, Jet ski ride plate, filed on 6 September 1988 and granted on 11 June 1991, names Kenneth F. Klus as its inventor and claims an ornamental design for a jet ski ride plate. The patent names no company; reading it as the Ocean Pro registrant's, from the same full name and the ride plates among his registered goods, is the archive's inference.

Sources: US design patent D317431; USPTO record serial 73670189

Business

1987 and 1988 · Confirmed

USPTO records Kenneth F. Klus, an individual, as registrant and owner of OCEAN PRO PRODUCTS CA., U.S.A., applied for on 6 July 1987 and registered on 27 December 1988 for marine engine parts and for parts of single-person jet boats, among them ride plates and flame arrestors. The registration was cancelled in 2009.

Sources: USPTO record serial 73670189

1994, 1996 and 1997 · Confirmed

He is also the registrant of two marks applied for in 1994: OCEAN PRO, for engine and jet boat parts, registered on 8 October 1996, and VORTEX, for flame arrestors for personal watercraft engines, registered on 25 March 1997. Both registrations have been renewed, and both marks are now owned by a California corporation.

Sources: USPTO record serial 74613791; USPTO record serial 74532701

1988 · Likely

Personal Watercraft Illustrated, in volume 2 number 1 of 1988, read only through archive.org's search of its text, calls Ken Klus the owner of Ocean Pro Offshore Performance Products. The Ocean Pro name is what ties the magazine's Ken Klus to the registrant.

Sources: PWI February 1988 search text

Names as printed

Ken Klus (PWI February 1988 search text)

Elsewhere in the archive

• History chapter: The aftermarket: exhaust pipes and engine parts
• History chapter: The aftermarket: pumps, plates, mats and the registers
• Era: The early years, in print
• Era: The makers and their machines

What the archive has not read (3)

• The 1987 registration and the 1994 OCEAN PRO registration claim 1 May 1980 as the first use of the Ocean Pro name. That is the applicant's own sworn claim, and it is not printed here as a founding date (checked 2026-10-05).
• The magazine article itself could not be read: archive.org no longer holds the issue's files, only its search index, which returns short passages (checked 2026-10-05).
• No document read dates when the Ocean Pro marks passed to their present owner (searched the archive's mirror and research cache, 2026-10-05).

Documents cited on this page

• USPTO record serial 73670189 (tsdr.uspto.gov): Trademark Status and Document Retrieval record, serial 73670189, registration 1517776 (OCEAN PRO PRODUCTS CA., U.S.A.), United States Patent and Trademark Office, 1988-12-27; government, high. OCEAN PRO PRODUCTS CA., U.S.A., filed 6 July 1987, registered 27 December 1988, cancelled 1 August 2009 under Section 8, for marine engine parts and parts for single-person jet boats including ride plates and flame arrestors. Registrant and owner KLUS, KENNETH F., an individual. The first use claimed, 1 May 1980, is the registrant's sworn claim.
• PWI February 1988 search text (archive.org): Personal Watercraft Illustrated volume 2 number 1 of 1988 (archive.org full-text search highlights), Personal Watercraft Illustrated, read through the Internet Archive's full-text search, 1988; enthusiast media, medium. The item's files are gone from archive.org (its metadata places it in a collection of emptied items), so only the search index's OCR highlights could be read: short passages, not the article. They name Ken Klus as owner of Ocean Pro and quote him on exhaust pipes, and print closed course results naming a Bill Chapin. The February date rests on a page footer read in an earlier probe of the same item.
• US design patent D317431 (patents.google.com): US design patent D317,431, Jet ski ride plate (USPTO record), United States Patent and Trademark Office, 1991-06-11; government, high. Filed 6 September 1988, granted 11 June 1991, inventor printed as Klus; Kenneth F., no assignee. One claim, the ornamental design for a jet ski ride plate as shown and described; the drawings were not read. It names no company. Held as the USPTO Patent Public Search record; the link is the Google Patents page.
• USPTO record serial 74613791 (tsdr.uspto.gov): Trademark Status and Document Retrieval record, serial 74613791, registration 2005577 (OCEAN PRO), United States Patent and Trademark Office, 1996-10-08; government, high. OCEAN PRO, filed 22 December 1994, registered 8 October 1996, renewed, for marine engine parts and jet boat parts. Registrant KLUS, KENNETH F.; current owner Atlantis Investments, Inc., a California corporation. The record does not date the change of owner.
• USPTO record serial 74532701 (tsdr.uspto.gov): Trademark Status and Document Retrieval record, serial 74532701, registration 2046925 (VORTEX), United States Patent and Trademark Office, 1997-03-25; government, high. VORTEX, filed 3 June 1994, registered 25 March 1997, renewed, for flame arrestors for personal watercraft engines. Registrant KLUS, KENNETH F.; current owner Atlantis Investments, Inc. The first use claimed, 28 April 1988, is the registrant's sworn claim.

Cite this page

“Kenneth F. Klus”, BaddJet archive, https://baddjetarchive.com/key-figures/kenneth-klus/

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