Thomas G. Faria Sr. – In Memory
1926-2003
The Thomas G. Faria Corporation, a privately owned company that until the mid 1980's was divided into three corporations which were later consolidated under the above umbrella:
- Faria Corporation - manufacturing patented tachometers
- Faria Meter Corporation - manufacturing a patented meter movement
- Faria Gauge Corporation - manufacturing patented electrical gauges
In 2013, the Thomas G. Faria Corporation bought Beede Instruments of Penacook, NH. In 2014, the corporation combined the two companies names and rebranded as Faria Beede Instruments, Inc.
The founder Thomas G. Faria was born December 19, 1926, in New London, Connecticut; and built the company on three ingredients: ability, determination, and sacrifice. His father was a commercial fisherman. Both parents were naturalized United States Citizens who emigrated here form Madeira, Portugal.
After studying Mechanical and Industrial Engineering at M.I.T. and R.P.I., and an early career as an engineer; Tom stared the Thomas G. Faria Corporation in 1954, securing small Government contracts for electronic parts and patented an electrical tachometer for the automotive industry.
Among the various projects that Tom completed, was the design and construction of an economic submarine simulator for use in research that is still being used at Electric Boat Company. He started manufacturing electronic tachometers in his basement, building 80 tachometers the first year and 200 the second year. In January 1960, Tom went off to man an exhibit at a motor boat show in New York City, where he landed an order for 1,000 tachometers, and the business grew right out of the basement into a fourth floor factory loft.
In 1962, the company secured its first order from Ford Motor Company for accessory tachometers and in 1963, Ford ordered tachometers for their production of the Falcon Sprint, Comet, and Mustang. Faria Corporation worked night and day in desperate attempt to keep up with the Ford production lines, with production rising to 100,000 tachometers a year. This necessitated moving to an 88,000 square foot facility, which remains the headquarters and manufacturing location of Faria Corporation, in Uncasville, Connecticut.
In 1967, The Faria Corporation acquired the Rochester Gauge Division of American Standard Controls, located in Detroit, Michigan. This facility was moved to the Uncasville plant. These additional facilities enabled Faria Corporation to manufacture a complete line of gauges for sale to Truck, Tractor and Automobile manufactures throughout the United States and International markets. During this time the company also began manufacturing gauges for Harley Davidson.
Tom was chosen "Engineer of the Year" in 1966 by the Connecticut Society of Professional Engineers for what the society felt was "an outstanding example of what can be accomplished by an engineer who uses his God-given talents to create something useful, usable, and marketable and keeps his eye on his goal".
Tom Faria passed away in April 2003, but his legacy and the company he built more than 50 years ago continues to manufacture a wide variety of innovative instrumentation for the global Marine, Commercial, Industrial, Military, and Recreational markets. Faria Beede is an ISO 9001:2015 registered and CE Certified company that employs nearly 200 people in the state of Connecticut.