Eric K. Pritchard Metis Research Company Profile
Metis began as a part time operation in 1972 to assist clients with the design, construction, and installation of specialized equipment. Over the years since, Metis has successfully provided these services in a wide variety of industries, as seen on the right. The broad background of the founder allows Metis to address a wide variety of problems with his experiences in many disciplines. Metis is a family operated company. Eric Pritchard is the founder and chief of Metis. His wife, Linda, keeps the paperwork flowing. Her son, Ronald Ridgely is the machinist with 10 years of experience. And Tom Tommarello specializes in electronics and computers. The Metis facilities include an office, electronics shop, machine shop, and an assembly area. Eric Pritchard has degrees in mathematics and electrical engineering and is skilled as a mechanical engineer, machinist, computer programmer, and electrician. He has been awarded 40 U.S. Patents, many foreign patents, and has several more pending. His patents cover many different topics: food processing, nuclear tolerant circuitry, stepping motor drives, computer architecture, guitar tuners and strings, autostereoscopic photography, artistic audio amplifiers, speaker systems, and most recently, a specialized machine tool. In addition to the articles that he has had published, he has been mentioned in two books and various articles about Paul Reed Smith. He has been listed in the credits for special film effects. Eric worked for the Navy as an electrical engineer in nuclear weapons related efforts. Ronald Ridgely has been a machinist for Metis since he started in a work-study program in high school. He immediately started working at a much higher level than he would have in school and was instrumental in completing the task at hand, a remote controlled autostereoscopic 35 millimeter movie camera. Ron is quite serious. He works to get everything right the first time because he really hates doing things over. Tom Tommarello is a more recent graduate of the local technical school. He is an electronics and computer technician plus a good machinist. In fact, you are looking at some of Tom’s handiwork right now. Linda Pritchard keeps all of the paperwork flowing: letters, invoices, shipping tickets, tax forms, checks and more. Metis is located in the eastern panhandle of West Virginia, near Northern Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. We are about 2 hours west of Baltimore and Washington, less than an hour from Winchester, Virginia, and about 2 hours southwest of Harrisburg. The facilities are located near US 522 between I 70 and I 81.
