Elmer C. Schacht, Inventor and Engineer

Elmer C. Schacht was born in Sandusky on July 24, 1896 to John and Lena (Bach) Schacht. He was a 1914 graduate of Sandusky High School, and graduated from the University of Michigan with a degree in engineering. (In the picture above, Elmer C. Schacht is the fourth young man on the left in the back row.)

In 1920, Elmer C. Schacht, co-authored a book with Theodore W. Gandy, entitled Direct-Current Motor and Generator Troubles: Operation and Repair. He was issued several patents during his many years with the Behr-Manning Corporation, in New York State. An article in the January 14, 1936 issue of the Sandusky Star Journal reported that Mr. Schacht's patents would revolutionize the manufacturing methods of the sandpaper industry. The process invented was known as electro-coating, and it allowed for abrasives to be deposited on the surface of papers electrically. Eventually Mr. Schacht became the president of Behr-Manning. He retired in August of 1961, after forty one years of service to the company. Mr. Schacht donated the Schacht Fine Arts Theatre and memorial garden to Russell Sage College in Troy, New York, where he had served as a trustee of the college. The Schacht lecture series at the Athens Academy in Athens, Georgia was named in his honor.

On February 1, 1986, Elmer C. Schacht passed away in Athens, Georgia, after a lengthy illness. Inurnment was at Sandusky’s Oakland Cemetery. You can read more about the life and career of Elmer C. Schacht in the February 6, 1896 and June 23, 1961 issues of the Sandusky Register, available on microfilm at the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center.