McKee, Thomas

Thomas McKee was a citizen of Great Britain who in the 1900s lived in Portland, Oregon and New York City. Though not a musician and apparently unable to read music, he received two patents related to automatic player pianos.

In a 1933 letter to D. S. MacColl, Thomas McKee explained that he had once been a part of the grain trade and the Panama Canal, but had left it due to the troubles in Europe. For unknown reasons, McKee turned to the field of music specifically related to automatic player pianos. In the same letter, McKee claimed to have fought and won a lawsuit related to his patents. He also said he had written his book "to try and get the Nobel Prize" so he could use the money to create a "complete working model" made of his instrument.*

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