William Henry Bristol (July 5, 1859–June 18, 1930) was an inventor, manufacturer, educator, and environmentalist. Bristol was born in Waterbury, Connecticut. After graduating from the Stevens Institute of Technology in 1884 with an engineering degree, he returned there in 1886 as an instructor and progressed to become a professor of mathematics in 1899. While at Stevens, he patented products including a steel lacing for industrial belts and a pressure chart recorder. The need to manufacture these products led to the founding of the Bristol Company in 1889 with his brother, Franklin, and his father, Benjamin. By 1915, the company was manufacturing the largest and most complete line of industrial instruments in the world, including instruments to measure and record temperature, electricity,