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Invisible Fence Inc.

Type	Corporation
Industry	Retail, Consumer Electronics
Founded	August 1973; 45 years ago (1973-08)
Headquarters	Tennessee , U.S.
Area served	World Wide
Key people	Willie Wallace (Chief Executive Officer), Randy Boyd (Executive Chairman)
Services	Pet Containment
Number of employees	700+
Parent	Radio Systems Corp.
Website	www.invisiblefence.com

Invisible Fence Inc. (commonly referred to as Invisible Fence) is a company that designs pet fences for cats and dogs. Manufactured and distributed by Radio System Corps, the company sells wireless and fenceless systems that revolutionized pet containment when it was first introduced in 1973.^[1] Its best known product consists of an underground wire installed by an Invisible Fence employee or franchisee around the perimeter of an area, a collar with an integrated transmitter that provides a signal to the pet when it approaches the perimeter, training provided by Invisible Fence and additional training instructions for the pet owner.

History

In 1970s, a traveling salesman by the name of Richard Peck worked as a sales and product manager for companies in Pennsylvania. His work took him from city to city and as he drove through these towns, he was saddened by the number of dead pets lying along highways and city streets. As an animal lover and an inventor he enjoyed searching for an effective solution to this apparent problem. The solution involved preventing pets from straying from their yards. An idea developed from the concept creating a type of "Invisible Fence". In 1973, he received a patent for the concept to go about building the first invisible fence concept. Peck worked out the technology and formed a company called Stay-Put Sales Co. to market his product mainly through direct mail and magazines.^[2]
Peck in the middle of marketing his invention realized that nationwide sales and distribution was beyond his interest. So in 1976, Peck sold the marketing and patent rights to John Purtell. He took his idea and created a company named Invisible Fence Co. Over his tenure with the company, he employed over 100 people directly and another 2,500 through its independent dealerships in the United States, Canada, Mexico and Europe.^[3][4]

In the 1980s John Putrell was struggling to overcome the limitations the product had. The receiver the dog wore around its neck was around the size of a cigarette packet. It suited larger dogs like Labradors and Huskies but not smaller animals like Chihuahuas without choking them. Another problem the product had was its range which only allowed a maximum of three acres of circle wire. Putrell pulled it from the market while his product developers refined it and made the receiver significantly smaller. They also refined it to need a new battery only twice a year.^[5]

Invisible Fence Co. lost exclusive rights to Peck's invention when the patent expired in 1990. As a result, many other companies emerged and designed their own version of the product including Radio system Corp, who currently owns the company.^[6][7]
In 1993, John Purtell sold his interest in Invisible Fence while the company was at its peak.

As of 2001, IFCO and the Invisible Fence Brand were sold to Kohlberg & Company.^[8]

Kohlberg and Company sold the company to Radio Systems Corp in 2006. During the time the company was acquired, Invisible Technologies locally employed about 150 in developing and marketing electronic pet products. The productions of these products were outsourced for more than a year before the acquisition.^[9]

Invisible Fence Inc. was to relocate to a newly renovated, 65,000-square-foot facility in the northern portion of Fort Wayne, which provided a base of operations for sales, marketing, product development, customer support, distribution and administrative staff.^[10][11]

Project Breathe

Project breathe is an initiative created by Invisible Fence Inc. to save lives of pets involved with house fires. An estimated 40,000 to 150,000 pets die each year in fires, mostly due to smoke inhalation. Invisible Fence started the Oxygen Mask Donation Program to provide oxygen mask kits to Fire Departments and first responders. Without these masks, treatment is administered through a human oxygen mask which is known to be inefficient for an animal to effectively be treated.^[12] The masks make rescues easier for the pets and firefighters. The mask is designed to fit comfortably around the animal’s muzzle, allowing firefighters to administer a more accurate and efficient amount of oxygen to the animal.^[13]

Notable Products

References