Bal Seal Engineering Celebrates 50 Years Of Innovation
Foothill Ranch, CA - To celebrate its 50th corporate anniversary, Bal Seal Engineering Inc. recognized its history and the vision of its founder on May 13, 2008. Chairman Pete J. Balsells founded Bal Seal Engineering in 1958. Today, the company employs 430 people and provides seal and spring solutions to companies globally for medical, energy, aerospace and industrial applications.
"Pete's innovation and entrepreneurial spirit is the foundation of our company," said Rob Sjostedt, president and chief executive officer. "Our products have gone to Mars, deep into the ocean and are instrumental components in cardiac pacemakers and pain-management medical devices. Pete's breakthrough in 1958 spurred five decades of growth and innovation. Over the next 50 years, we will work to accomplish our goal of leading the world in the development and supply of sealing and connecting solutions for critical applications."
The American Dream Exemplified
Balsells emigrated from Catalonia, Spain to the United States in 1946 with little more than a strong desire to learn and succeed. While working as an aerospace design engineer in 1951, Balsells realized he could improve upon the functionality and safety of rocket booster cryogenics systems by creating self-energized seals. He applied his engineering training, problem-solving skills and inventor's zeal to formulate a solution. Commonly known today as the "Bal Seal," the canted-coil, spring-energized polytetraflouroethylene (PTFE) seal, and the subsequent engineered applications that derived from the seal and spring technology he developed, provide unique solutions for critical applications in a host of industries where performance is paramount.
Outside of the walls of Bal Seal, Balsells is as inventive. He is a former president of Casal dels Catalans de California. Together with the Henry Samueli School of Engineering at the University of California, Irvine (UCI), Balsells founded a program of engineering fellowships for Catalan students. In addition, he has sponsored students at Pacific Language Institute in San Luis Obispo, California, who must learn to speak English in order to enter college or pursue other studies.
"Pete overcame great hardship while growing up in Spain during the Franco regime. His aunt provided him with a unique opportunity to pursue an engineering education in the United States," said Professor Roger Rangel, a UCI mechanical and aerospace engineering faculty member. "He is a gifted engineer who holds more than 120 patents worldwide and helps others get the best education possible. With Pete's vision and generous assistance, the California-Catalonia Program can stimulate the transformation of knowledge created at the academic level into innovations that create new wealth and build strong local, regional and inter- related national economies."
SOURCE: Bal Seal Engineering Inc.