More on Halloween Inventions • The History of Halloween • Wacky Halloween Patents • Ghost Detectors • The Good Doctor Guillotine • The History of the Electric Chair

Pumpkins Carving Kits and Patent Infringement • Martha Stewart sued by Pumpkin Masters • Pumpkin Masters is seeking unspecified damages. Pumpkin Carving Kits • Pumpkin Master Products • Pumpkin Carving Kits Pumpkins On The Web • Carving 101 • Jack-O-Lantern.com • Grumpkins.com

Carving pumpkins has long been one of the several ways in which Halloween is celebrated and a variety of pocket pens and kitchen knives have long been used to carve faces and other designs into pumpkins creating the familiar Halloween Jack-O-Lanterns. However, inventors have patented dedicated tools made solely for carving. In fact, inventor John Bardeen of Denver believes that his father Paul Bardeen is behind the "development of intricately carved pumpkin designs." 

Both Bardeens are the inventors of dedicated pumpkin carving kits that make carving very complex designs into pumpkins a snap. Safety engineer and inventor, Paul Bardeen held carving parties in his Racine, Wisconsin, home and in the surrounding community for many years until his death in 1983. After which his family decided to turn their jack-o-lantern carving traditions into a family business with son John patenting his own pumpkin carving kit. 

John Bardeen's patented pumpkin carving kits (an improvement over his father's original design) are manufactured and sold by the family-owned company Pumpkin Masters, who have had to defend against potential infringers. Recently, the Denver based Pumpkin Masters filed a federal lawsuit against Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc. stating that Omnimedia marketed and sold pumpkin carving kits that violated their patent**. Pumpkin Masters have also filed patent infringement suits in the past against Kmart Corp. and Kraft General Foods Inc. 

Bardeen's pumpkin carving kits include specially designed cutting tools, design templates, and an instruction booklet. The designs one can curve with these tools are very impressive. Bardeen also holds a patent for a tool to carve pumpkins - U.S patent #4,841,638.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

(Extracts From United States Patent # 4,828,114 for " Pumpkin carving kits " issued to; John P. Bardeen on May 9, 1989.) 

USPTO Patent Drawing*
The present invention is directed to a pumpkin carving kit useful for carving decorative designs in the fleshy shell of a pumpkin. The kit includes a combination of tools, decorative patterns and an instruction book containing instructions that correlate design features of the pattern to the cutting tools. 

Carving pumpkins has long been one of the several ways in which Halloween is celebrated. Traditionally, carving involves the removal of a portion of the pumpkin shell surrounding the stem, removal of the seeds and fibers contained in the pumpkin and carving humorous, grotesque or other decorative features in the pumpkin shell by removing fleshy portions of the shell to obtain the desired appearance. Internal illumination is then provided by a candle or by a battery operated light. This illumination results in a glowing decorative pattern. 

In the past, carving pumpkins was typically accomplished using pocket knives, paring knives and the like. Due to the size of these cutting instruments, though, the typical carver was only able to obtain crude decorative features. Since the cutting knives used in pumpkin carving are difficult to control, any attempt at carving detailed, intricate design features usually met with failure since the carver often unintentionally removed portions of the pumpkin shell, which destroyed the design. 

The development of intricately carved pumpkin designs is believed to originated with Paul John Bardeen, the father of the inventor of the present pumpkin carving kit. His innovation used small hand-held saws and spiral drill bits to produce intricately and exotically carved pumpkins. The present invention is directed to an improvement over this early system, and the presentation of improved cutting tools and materials in a kit form for carving pumpkins. 

*The drawings on this page are from USPTO patents and do not represent the more complex packaging of the actual products.
** Filed 10/24/02