Fox 40
Fox 40 International Inc. is a company founded by Ron Foxcroft in Hamilton, Ontario Canada. The company's main success is in the whistle industry but it also produces a range of sports & safety accessories such as mouthguards, coaching boards, custom imprinted products, marine safety products and first aid kits. History. At the age of 17, Ron Foxcroft's football playing days ended due to a back injury. He went on to become a successful part-time basketball referee. In this capacity, he often had problems with his whistle, which, in refereeing, along with the vertically striped jersey , is an essential piece of equipment. He noticed that the pea inside the whistle caused most of his problems. The pea would prevent him from blowing the whistle hard, or become clogged with dirt and water. He is said to have been inspired to create a "pealess" whistle following an incident in an international game (variously reported as occurring at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal or at a 1984 pre-Olympics game in São Paulo), in which Foxcroft witnessed an obvious foul but he could not stop play as his whistle was rendered useless by a jammed pea; play  continued and the referees were booed by spectators. Foxcroft set out to solve his problem and went to a plastics company looking for a better whistle. The company agreed to help him as long as he provided the design. Foxcroft drew up a list of key features that he wanted included in the whistle design. Foxcroft hired Chuck Shepherd, an industrial designer, to design the whistle. After more than 14 prototypes, the modern-day Fox 40 whistle was made. Many of the features that Foxcroft drew up in his original list were featured in the final prototype. Foxcroft was adamant  that all whistles be painted bright colours, such as pink or yellow, in order to increase visibility of the person blowing the whistle, a statement that mystified Chuck Shepherd. This requirement was shortly after dropped from his list. Foxcroft and Shepherd were issued patent number 5816186 on Oct 6, 1998 under Ronald Foxcroft & Charles Shepherd. The Fox 40 whistle was first introduced at the 1987 Pan American Games in Indianapolis, Indiana. Fox 40 is, as of May 2013, selling 10,000 whistles daily in 140 countries. Pealess technology. The Fox 40 whistle owes its power to pealess technology which was developed  by Foxcroft and Shepherd. An ordinary whistle uses a small ball inside of a chamber to create a pulse in the whistle. These whistles were said to produce less sound and were said to often be jammed by dirt, saliva, water, or ice. A hard blow was said to cause the pea to stick to the walls of a chamber and produce no sound. The Fox 40 does not use pea technology and has no moving parts. According to the manufacturer, the Fox 40 can be submerged in water and brought back into the air and blown immediately because the  water will drain from the chambers<ref name="https://fox40shopusa.com/collections/pealess-whistles/products/classic-fingergrip">.</ref> It is generally used by mariners, lifeguards, and other people who work under similar conditions. It is the most commonly whistle by referees in official FIFA-sanctioned association football events. The "40" in Fox 40 refers to Foxcroft's age at the time - validated by the fact that Foxcroft patent application was in the same year he reached 40 years of age.