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The “Martin” Multi-Helix Spiral Concentrator was first developed in the mid-1970s by William R. Martin, a brilliant inventor and gold miner. While commercial mining on the banks of the Yuba River, Bill experienced the typical problems associated with separating gold from the black sand concentrate. In those days, the only viable gold recovery methods and equipment available to separate fine gold were finishing sluices, concentrating tables, mercury amalgamation, and hand panning.

In Bill's case, it was a family operation, and they would all pan the concentrate from the sluice at the end of the day. After a year of panning, Bill was convinced there was be a better way and set out to solve the gold recovery problem. It took two years, but after several gold recovery equipment prototypes and exhaustive trial and error, his innovative "tube spiral" design was perfected — and the Multi-Helix Spiral Concentrator was born. And it was a real killer!

Once in operation on Bill's mine, other local miners witnessed the Spiral's efficiency and wanted one for themselves. So, Bill started up his company, Tri-R Engineering, and began to manufacture and sell the Multi-Helix Spiral to the public. Within a year, the demand for the Spiral was to the point where he put his modest gold mining venture aside and dedicated his time to produce and distribute the Multi-Helix Spiral and other innovative gold recovery equipment.

In 1982, Bill's daughter married Paul Clift, a third-generation placer miner from Yuba County. Bill and his new son-in-law, who eventually became the company's shop foreman and chief designer and fabricator, continued with the business over the following years, shipping more than 2,000 Helix Spirals to many junior and major mining companies worldwide. Some of which are still in operation today!

Bill and Paul also designed and manufactured other specialized gold recovery equipment, always with the same concept of building a better mousetrap. Paul was an inventor in his own right. Between the two of them, they have designed an entire line of innovative ore processing plants and developed the industry's first Horizontal Low-G Centrifuge.

Tri-R Engineering manufactured and sold ore processing plants all over the US, Canada, and other parts of the world such as Africa, South America, and Asia. However, in the mid-1980s, the price of gold had dropped, and interest in gold mining declined substantially. Bill went on to do other things, but Paul never lost his passion for mining and moved to Costa Rica to mine gold in the remote Osa Peninsula up until now.