Max Batsel

Biography

Max C. Batsel (IRE Associate, 1921 and Fellow, 1927) was born in Fulton, Kentucky, on 16 June 1894. He received the B.M.E. degree from the University of Kentucky, Lexington, in 1915. Batsel then immediately joined the Western Electric Company, Hawthorne Works, in Chicago, Illinois, as a Student Engineer. Upon completing this course of training, he joined the staff of the Bureau of Standards, in Washington, D.C.

During Work War I, Batsel was commissioned as Second Lieutenant in the Signal Corps and assigned to the Radio Development Section. In 1920, he resigned from the Signal Corps and joined the Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company, where he participated in the design of the first receivers specifically designed for receiving broadcasted programs in 1921. The Radio Department was established in 1922, and he was appointed Section Engineer responsible for broadcast receiver development and design. In 1928, the responsibilities of the section were increased to include the development and design of sound motion-picture equipment, both 16 and 35 mm.

In 1929, Batsel was appointed Chief Engineer of the RCA Photophone Division, a separate RCA subsidiary company with headquarters in New York City and a branch office in London, England. In 1932, the Photophone Company merged with the RCA Manufacturing Company in Camden, New Jersey., and Batsel was appointed Manager of the Sound Sections of the Engineering Division. The engineering and manufacturing operations of the Sound Division were moved to Indianapolis, Indiana, in 1941, and Batsel became Chief of the Indianapolis Plant. He served in this capacity until recalled to Camden to assume the duties of Chief Engineer of the Engineering Products Department of which the Sound Division became a Section. In 1955, he was appointed Chief Engineer of the Defense Electronic Products.

By 1962, Batsel retired and worked as a consultant. He was a Fellow of the IRE as well as the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers, and a member of the American Society of Naval Engineers and Tau Beta Pi. In 1940, Batsel received the Modern Pioneers Award from the National Association of Manufacturers.