Arthur Ronald Trist (1876-1973) of Ronald Trist and Co, a prolific inventor in several diverse fields
1876 Born in Portsmouth, son of John and Mary Trist, John was a timber merchant[1]
1899 Married Angela Plasencia in Terrebonne, Louisiana, USA[2]
1903 Patent on "Improvements relating to Packing for Stuffing Boxes and similar Devices."
1906 Patent on "Improvements relating to Mechanical Piano Playing Apparatus and the like and in Music Record Sheets for use therewith"
c.1909 Seems to have established a company Trist Piano Player Ltd with which he took out further patents
1911 Arthur Ronald Trist 35, Manufacturer And Merchant Of Engineers Sundries, lived in St Albans with Angela Trist 35, his sister Amy Trist 34, Daisy Victoria Trist 10, Edith Hilda Trist 9, Cybil Angela Trist 7, Beryl Ruth Trist 4, Stella Plasencia Trist 2[3]
1911 Among many patents relating to player pianos, he also gained an Australian patent on "Improvements in feed water regulators for steam boilers and the like", which was followed by similar patents in other countries, such as Austria, USA and Canada.
After 1912 there seem to have been no more player piano-related patents; instead he patented many improvements relating to boiler controls.
1913 GB Patent on "Improvements relating to Governing Devices for Automatically Controlling the Supply of Feed Water to Steam Boilers and for like purposes."
1914 of London; wrote to The Engineer about the Thermofeed pump used in connection with S.E.A piston rings, discussing earlier correspondence from J. F. Gill.
1920s Started to patent inventions relating to colour photography and printing. Patents relating to boiler controls were then taken out by the firm, Ronald Trist and Co.
1922 Ronald Trist, 45, arrived in Southampton from New York, a merchant[4]. From about this time he seems to have travelled under the name Ronald or Ronald A. trist
1926 Invented an improved screen for photographic purposes, photomechanical printing processes and the like which was patented in the USA by the Pantone Corporation; it was based on use of mercury rather than engraving the plate[5]
1959 Having gained hundreds of patents, the final GB patent in his name seems to have been on "Improvements in and relating to packings for rotating shafts".
1973 Died in Devon[6]