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.*

United States Patent 1,398,107 patented on November 22, 1921 was applied for on May 20, 1890 with Serial No. 497, 156. This was renewed July 29, 1920 under Serial No. 399,888. This patent primarily concerned the operation of perforated sheet music for automatic player pianos.

United States Patent 1,580,438 patented on April 13, 1926 was applied for on December 10, 1908 with Serial No. 466,788. This was renewed June 27, 1921 under Serial No. 480,720 ½ . This patent concerned the device that maneuvered the perforated piano sheet music through the piano.

In the 1920s through the 1930s, Thomas McKee was in contact with Carroll Brent Chilton of the Audible Music Text Society and the Aeolian Company and author of The De-Assification of Music: A Propagandist Magazine of One Number Containing News of Importance to all Music Lovers, Especially to all Owners of Player Pianos . In the 1920s, McKee wrote to the business associates of numerous businessmen, musicians, and philanthropists such as Henry Ford, Irving Berlin, Otto H. Kahn, and Douglas Fairbanks apparently hoping to solicit interest in his designs. In the early 1930s, McKee wrote a book titled The Language of Music utilizing research including materials from Chilton. This book described how music was inaccessible to those not trained in music and then explained how a new player piano could become a teaching tool for the masses. The book also served as a business perspective designed to present his new designs for the player piano and solicit interest in his designs. His attempts were apparently unsuccessful.

In 1932, McKee wrote several letters attempting to interest buyers in "Vit-O-Weat" and "Wole-O-Weat" cereals sealed and then cooked in their cans in order to preserve minerals and chemical elements.

*McKee to D. S. MacColl 22July 1933. See Correspondence.

From the guide to the Thomas McKee papers, 1890-1933, (The New York Public Library. Music Division.)