What invention is carving out innovation? Read this blog to find out!
Despite the fact that your costume still might not be finished, your yard and house aren’t decorated and the candy hasn’t been purchased for those eager trick or treaters in your neighborhood, Halloween is tomorrow! That realization alone might be reason enough to give you a good scare!
But, aside from all of those traditions, we thought to ourselves, “Why not write a Halloween-themed blog about a common fall activity?”
So, since tomorrow is also National Carve a Pumpkin Day, we picked an activity that you’ve probably done every year since you were a young kid- carve a pumpkin!
The tradition of carving faces and other designs into pumpkins has been around for a long time. But, the pumpkin carving kits came as an afterthought.
Over time, there have many inventors that have patented dedicated tools that were geared solely towards carving pumpkins. But, the most popular is John Bardeen, an inventor from Denver, Colorado who claims that his father, Paul Bardeen, was behind the innovation of the intricately-carved pumpkin designs.
As we know it, this father and son inventing duo are the inventors of the pumpkin carving kits that make carving those classic faces into your pumpkin so much easier.
The story of this invention begins in Racine, Wisconsin, where Paul Bardeen would hold carving parties. However, after Paul passed away, the family wanted to keep that tradition alive and turned it into a family business. This is when his son, John, patented his own pumpkin carving kit.
These patented carving kits include an instruction booklet, design templates and cutting tools. This invention replaced the old way of carving pumpkins, which utilized pocket and paring knives to cut out their designs.
However, those tools usually weren’t the best, due to the size of these cutting instruments, which made them difficult to handle.
Now, thanks to the invention of the pumpkin carving kit, users are able to carve out intricate designs because of the drill bits and hand-held saws that are included. The modern-day kits are offering people everywhere a better way to carve pumpkins, thanks to the improved cutting tools and materials.
So, with Halloween tomorrow, if you haven’t carved your pumpkin yet, it’s never too late to head to the store to pick up a pumpkin carving kit and let your creative juices flow!
Copyright Inventionland, 2014
Sources:
https://inventors.about.com/od/pstartinventions/a/PumpkinCarving.htm
Media:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a6/Jack-o-lantern-FR.JPG
https://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-VA6Ip6ml24/TMekhxecLNI/AAAAAAAAAXU/STK-RsrZnrc/s1600/tools.jpg
