Seven spook-tacular inventions for a fang-tastic Halloween

If the recent weeks of Brexit uncertainty weren’t scream-inducing enough, Halloween is now upon us! Here at Mathys & Squire, we love the scary, the surprising, and most of all the unique, and so we thought we would highlight a few inventions that could make your Halloween celebrations bigger and spookier than ever before…

The decorations

Everyone knows that in order to successfully frighten your party guests, timing is everything – you have to surprise them when they least expect it! With this in mind, US 2012/0060270 discloses an attachable toilet appliance containing a flush responsive audio player. Once triggered, the appliance plays a pre-recorded (and hopefully terrifying) audio message to the user. 

Spooky decorations are also a must for any Halloween party, but with increasing demand for healthier food options and a drive to reduce plastic use, how do you frighten your guests whilst being environmentally friendly and avoiding high sugar treats? Fortunately, there seems to be an answer. US 4,827,666 discloses an apparatus for growing squash, cucumbers and other fruits into desired shapes with improved surface details. In particular, US 4,827,666 notes that ‘A zucchini in the likeness of  Clark Gable, for example, complete with mustache, would be no ordinary sight on the dinner table’ – we couldn’t agree more – the disembodied head of Clark Gable would indeed be both a uniquely frightening and healthy table decoration!

A more traditional Halloween decoration activity involves carving pumpkins, however US 2007/0114336 provides a modernised method of creating these spooky adornments. US 2007/0114336 discloses a decor kit for decorating and accessorising pumpkins, squash, various fruits and vegetables. The kit includes a support base, a covering to surround the support base, and accessories to humanise the carved fruit/vegetable. Our favourite is shown below, we think this ‘hip hop’-looking pumpkin is simply gourd-eous (sorry, at least it wasn’t a Jack the Rapper joke!).

As an alternative, US 2010/0003888 discloses ‘The Regurgitator’, a life size Halloween novelty decoration containing  multiple motion sensors triggering different messages when approached from different angles, for example: (Woman screaming with man laughing in background) “THIS IS WHAT YOU GET WHENYOU STAND IN FRONT OF THE REGURGITATOR AAAAAAAAAA” (throw up noises at end). When approached from the front, the man-shaped novelty item will also ‘throw up’ fluid into a metal bucket, while still playing messages. In order to achieve this effect, a fluid jug is located inside the head, wherein fluid contained within the jug will flow through the mouth orifice when triggered. The man-shaped novelty item also contains a bucket attached to the hands in order to catch the expelled fluid.

For something a little more high-tech, US 2016/0047536 discloses a novelty decoration which uses light to add human-like features to an inanimate object. The invention includes a film with an image that has been manipulated to provide for a low profile projection of an image onto a vertical surface directly adjacent to the object. The projected image includes an animated face along with audio in the form of music or vocal sounds.

The costume

As well as making sure your home is as terrifying as possible, in order to achieve maximum effect, you also need to make sure that you look the part, but how do you decide what to wear when the weather can be so unpredictable? US 2003/0177562 seems to have the solution and discloses a fancy dress costume specifically adapted for changeable weather. In order to improve the comfort of the wearer, this costume is adapted to accommodate not only losses of humidity, but also losses of heat, through the inclusion of vents. Venting is provided in the form of a mesh, net-like material, or other ventilated fabric in the fabrication of the costume. The costume also includes an insulating material disposed over at least a portion of the first garment base. 

If your main aim is to scare unsuspecting people, US 6,093,475 discloses a costume element which represents a bleeding body part. The bleeding costume element contains an inner layer which may or may not be transparent and an at least partially transparent outer layer with a passage formed there between. A red blood-like fluid, or any alternative fluid, can be pumped through these passages when desired in order to increase the scariness of your costume as desired.

If you have a ‘ghoulish’ idea for a ‘bloodcurdling’ invention – or any other kind of invention – and need some advice, get in touch with a member of our ‘talon’-ted team today.