In 1923, Richard Drew took a job as a laboratory technician at the Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company (now called MMM), which produced sandpaper.
Management assigned him to oversee the testing of a new model of Wetordry sandpaper in stores and car repair shops. Once, while in one of these workshops, he noticed that when painting cars with two or more colors, the dividing lines were sloppy. He promised the painter to come up with something. Drew brought 2-inch-wide adhesive tape to the auto repair shop for testing. The painter decided to use a prototype, but when he started applying a different color, he noticed that the tape was warping. Taking a closer look, the painter realized that, in order to save money, the glue was applied only to the edges of the tape, and informed the inventor about this.
But, since there was no funding, only a few years later Drew began refining his invention. And on September 8, 1930, a prototype of the tape was sent for testing to a client in Chicago. The results met all expectations and costs.
There are several versions of where the name scotch tape came from. According to one of them, the Americans nicknamed the adhesive tape scotch tape (English scotch - Scottish) since at that time there were legends about Scottish stinginess, and the glue was initially applied only to the edge of the tape.
Scotch tape was originally used to wrap food, but during the Great Depression people came up with many other uses for tape.
In 1932, John Borden improved the tape by providing it with a feeder with a blade for cutting a piece of tape with one hand.
The world's first adhesive tape was made from rubber, oils and resins on a cellophane base. It was waterproof and withstood a wide range of temperatures. However, scotch tape was originally intended to seal food wrappers. It was to be used by bakers, grocers and meat packers. But people, forced to save money during the Great Depression, themselves came up with hundreds of new ways to use tape at work and at home: from sealing bags of clothes to storing broken eggs. It was then that the tape met torn pages of books and documents, broken toys, windows that were not sealed for the winter, and even dilapidated banknotes.
In 1953, Soviet scientists discovered that, thanks to triboluminescence, tape unwound in a vacuum can emit X-rays. In 2008, an experiment was carried out by American scientists who showed that in some cases the radiation power is sufficient to leave an X-ray image on photographic paper.
The glue used in the tape eats into the paper over time, leaving marks that penetrate the entire thickness of the paper. The Dead Sea Scrolls were taped together to preserve scattered fragments of ancient manuscripts; Over the course of 50 years, the adhesive from the tape glued from the inside out penetrated the scroll and began to destroy the side of the scroll on which the text itself was written. A special restoration department has been established at the Israel Antiquities Authority, which, among other things, removes tape and glue from the remains of the Dead Sea Scrolls.
“He created greenhouse conditions for us, a kind of autonomous creative laboratory, where we could do whatever we wanted, conduct any experiments. He knew that if you put weirdos in a permissive atmosphere, interesting things could come out of it.”
— Paul E. Hansen, former CTO of 3M, on Richard Drew, inventor of adhesive tape.
At first glance, duct tape may seem like the most ordinary thing in the world. However, given that today it is found in almost every home and is used for a wide variety of purposes, from wrapping gifts to “repairing” torn banknotes, you can understand why no one is particularly interested in its origins.
The invention of scotch tape is an example of incredible determination and courage, and this object owes its appearance to a banjo player, a dropout, a “worthless” engineer who believed in his abilities as an inventor.
He not only invented clear tape and masking tape, but was also something of a revolutionary at 3M, fundamentally changing its approach to creative people.
A short tour of the 3M company
Although today 3M is known to consumers more as a manufacturer of sandpaper, industrial tapes, adhesives and other adhesives, the company was originally trying to conquer a completely different market segment.
In 1902, five Minnesota businessmen pooled their resources to launch a mining venture, the Minnesota Mining & Manufacturing Co (3M). For the purpose of extracting and selling corundum (emery), an abrasive mineral, the men purchased the mine. But when it turned out that it was of no value, the project stalled and began to change hands. Its new owners set themselves the task of inventing an improved version of sandpaper.
Due to the lack of corundum, 3M decided to import another mineral from Spain - garnet. Although this stone demonstrated sufficient hardness to be used in the production of sandpaper, it was far from ideal. Dissatisfied customers sent hundreds of letters to the company, complaining that the mineral powder did not adhere well to paper and crumbled. Ten years of research, development, and hard work passed, but 3M was still losing money.
Then, in the early 1920s, company management decided to diversify its product line. It was a strategy that fully paid off later, especially when an engineer named Richard Drew joined the company.
Unlucky Engineer
In 1921, 3M hired three people to oversee product innovation, a move the company calls “one of the most fortuitous coincidences in the history of its business.” Among the guests was Richard Drew.
From a young age, he expressed distaste for traditional activities in American society, and began working as a banjo player as a teenager. After several years of touring with local bands, he earned enough money to pay for his engineering studies at the University of Minnesota. But after 18 months, he became disillusioned with the program and dropped out. Having contacted local newspapers to look for work, he came across a vacancy at 3M and, as if on a whim, decided to apply, writing them the following cover letter:
“I've never been employed in the commercial sector, but I'm really looking forward to starting. I understand that my work cannot be worth much, since I do not have the necessary practical experience, but I would be happy with any salary that you agree to pay me at first. I am physically tough and, if necessary, I can drive a tractor and do basic farm work."
The 22-year-old incompetent was hired and thrown into the deep end: he was tasked with testing different types of sandpaper grains. After two years, company management finally expanded Drew's responsibilities and began sending him to local auto repair shops, which were 3M's most frequent customers, to distribute the paper they produced.
A car painter is working on a two-tone paint job on a car.
At that time, in the 1920s, painting cars in two colors was at the peak of its popularity, and for auto repairmen it was a constant headache: in order to achieve the desired effect, they were forced to mask areas of the car using homemade glue, pieces of newspaper, parchment and heavy-duty surgical tape. When the tape was removed after painting, it often took with it pieces of fresh paint, and the work proceeded anew: stick it on again, paint it, remove the tape, etc.
One day, Drew came to a car repair shop where such painting work was being carried out, and was greeted with an excellent portion of obscenities: strong surgical tape again ruined all the work of the painters. But instead of taking the opportunity to sell paint-removing sandpaper to craftsmen, he came up with a brilliant idea: What if he could design an improved, less aggressive adhesive tape that wouldn't ruin the painted areas when removed?
He promised the workers that he would return soon with a solution and rushed out of the workshop.
On the way to invention
Drew had no idea how to make duct tape. But 3M, as the manufacturer of sandpaper, had access to all the necessary components for its invention: after all, when manufactured, the paper must have a sticky surface so that minerals are retained on it. And the engineer decided to take advantage of this.
So, in his free time from selling sandpaper, inspired by his idea, Drew began conducting experiments. He tried various ingredients in them: vegetable oils, chewing gum, flax seeds, glycerin, all types of resins - but nothing gave the desired result. Moreover, because of the search, Drew became more negligent in his work, and his superiors ordered him to quit this job and return to his main responsibilities.
“(Drew) was forced to pay for the experiments out of his own pocket, without any experience or knowledge of the technology,” one 3M employee later reported. “He didn’t even fully understand what exactly he wanted to get, but he was young and full of optimism.”
Drew refused to give up and continued to struggle with the tape in his free time. Two years later, he found a formula that finally worked: a mixture of furniture glue and glycerin, applied in a thin layer to prepared crepe paper, resulted in a firmly adhering tape that peeled off easily and did not damage the paint.
Drew's original patented duct tape illustration
His boss, William McKnight, the same man who originally ordered him to stop his efforts, still did not see any potential in this new invention and refused to purchase a machine that could produce tape on a mass scale. But instead of giving up, Drew again showed resourcefulness: as a research assistant, he had the right to purchase materials worth up to $100, and, having bought the mechanism in parts, he assembled it himself. When the boss discovered this, he appreciated Drew's tenacity and issued the following order to all management:
“If an employee shows a desire to work on a project and expresses absolute readiness to carry out development, we must provide him with such an opportunity. From now on, the company encourages employee initiative and trusts them.”
As a result, Scotch Masking Tape was an instant success and immediately changed the way paint jobs were done. But Drew didn't stop there.
How Scotch was born
The success of masking tape earned Drew a promotion: in the late 1920s, he became head of the “3M Manufacturing Laboratory,” which gave him unlimited access to the development of new products. This incredibly inspired Drew to “make new discoveries where no one had thought to look,” and just like masking tape, the invention of duct tape was a happy coincidence.
During this time, rival DuPont invented cellophane, a “moisture-proof packaging material” that appealed to bakers, grocers and butchers. Because cellophane is transparent, it was chosen as an attractive way to seal the packaging.
For a year, Drew and his team struggled with a mission to create transparent cellophane-based adhesive tape. The material was very capricious, recalls a specialist in the history of the ZM company:
“The cellophane curled up from the heat and melted as soon as it was under the machine. It often tore or collapsed before it was possible to cover the entire tape with glue. The glue was applied unevenly, and its dark amber color spoiled the appearance of transparent, colorless cellophane."
As a result, Drew developed a way to handle the thin tape more gently. And after numerous tests, the ideal adhesive layer was found - it consisted of “oils, resins and rubber” and was completely transparent.
Scotch tape in original packaging (1930s)
In September 1930, a product called Scotch® Cellulose Tape (later renamed Scotch Tape) was released and took the world by storm due to its unique benefits. During the Great Depression, the tape brought unprecedented prosperity to 3M: instead of buying new things at exorbitant prices, consumers used the tape to “repair and restore” old ones. According to the 3M report, the tape "virtually sold itself":
“Almost every day people found new uses for duct tape in their everyday lives. Old books, sheet music, windows, curtains, and even small tears in clothing were sealed with tape. Bankers used it to repair paper currency. Secretaries have found the perfect solution for broken nails. Farmers realized they could use it to secure cracked eggs. Housewives used it to put a lid on dairy products and use it to remove lint from clothes, glue bait in a mousetrap, and cover crumbling plaster on the ceiling. Goodyear coated the internal ribs and beams of its airships with it, creating an anti-corrosion shield.”
While other companies filed for bankruptcy and laid off hundreds of employees in the 1930s, 3M, thanks to the sensational success of Richard Drew's Scotch tape, stayed afloat, added new people to its team and continued to innovate.
Richard Drew's legacy
During World War II, Drew was promoted again, this time to head of a small team known as the "Pro-Fab Lab," or Fabrication Laboratory. Like many other companies, during this difficult period 3M focused all its efforts on meeting the needs of the nation: it produced more than 100 types of adhesives, tapes and abrasives for the army, most of which were developed by Drew and his team.
Gradually, the corporate style and technical approach to product development became less consistent with Richard Drew's freestyle style, then management gave him the opportunity to form his own team and focus on inventions. Along with four other employees, he moved his research laboratory into a tiny building that had previously been used as a whiskey distillery. “It was a wonderful building, but it had big factory windows.”, recalls one former employee:
“We were located right next to the railway depot, and the air was filled with tons of ash, spewed out by locomotives every day. We didn't have air conditioning and it was incredibly hot. One day the thermometer showed 107 degrees Fahrenheit (almost 42°C). It was not easy to conduct experiments under such conditions.”.
Among his team, Drew was known as an eccentric, eccentric leader. Ray Hunder, who developed Post-It notes, speaks fondly of his philosopher boss:
“Dick (short for Richard) always listened carefully to all the ideas with which people came to his office, and never put a spoke in the wheels. He considered himself a bit of an outsider and therefore always sympathized with eccentrics like himself. There was a free atmosphere in the laboratory, conducive to creativity. Dick encouraged people to be themselves, saying, “Hey, your idea is as good as anyone else’s!” When people can be themselves, it allows their talents to shine.”
Drew also did not attach any importance to the level of education of employees. “He believed that even if you failed kindergarten, but at the same time continued your development, you should not worry,”— Ted Buchholtz, nicknamed “Flipper,” later said. Without any formal training, Buchholz was accepted into Drew's team and began developing the now very popular editing tape.
Pro-Fab Lab soon became the subject of ridicule at 3M: nicknamed "Fun Farm," Drew's team gained a reputation as a bunch of "losers" who couldn't find a home elsewhere. However, the team continued its development.
“We were free to do whatever we wanted,” recalls John Pearson, who once worked under Drew. “I could buy materials and start making something without everyone else interfering with my work.”
At the core of this approach was Drew's new concept, which he introduced at 3M: employees could spend up to 15% of their time creating and developing their own ideas (similar strategies were later integrated into Google and other companies). Ultimately, the world acquired a whole series of very useful inventions: Scotch reflective film, microporous surgical tape, double-sided construction tape, decorative tape, various face masks, including respiratory masks.
Instead of a conclusion
In 1980, at the age of 81, Richard Drew died. He worked as an inventor at 3M for over 40 years, led a team for over two decades, and had over 30 patents in his name.
Today, technologies developed by Pro-Fab Lab account for more than 20% of all 3M profits. Scotch's clear tape remains the company's signature product, a product that has earned it billions of dollars and earned it trust around the world. It can be found almost everywhere: according to the American Chemical Society, “It even came in handy on the Moon (as insulation for a lunar rover), appeared on Saturday Night Live, and was immortalized in fine art.”
Thanks to his invention, Richard Drew was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame, an elite group of innovators who made the world as we know it today. But as his old colleague Paul Hansen says, the legacy of this eccentric engineer extends further than his inventions.
“His perseverance should serve as an example to us all,”- writes Paul. “Only a person who persistently moves towards his goal ultimately achieves success. Few people take into account what kind of work usually stands behind great achievements.”
Hello friends! My name is Tanya. I run the blog Vtopetop and today I want to tell you an interesting fact about who invented scotch tape.
If you like my article, don’t forget to subscribe to updates and like, and YouTube On the channel you will find many interesting videos on a variety of topics.
Adhesive tape is found in every home and is used in a variety of ways, from its direct purpose (to stick something to something else), to such inventions that sometimes you wonder how such a thing could come into a person’s head. They are so used to it that it seems as if it has been there all their lives, but this is not at all the case.
When and who invented scotch tape?
“Scotch” literally translates as Scotsman or Scottish, but its history is in no way connected with this country; it was invented in the USA. The tape got its name from the so-called Scottish stinginess, because glue was previously applied only to the edges in order to save money, and not to the entire surface.
The first prototype of adhesive tape was created in 1930 by American Richard Drew. He worked as a laboratory technician for a sandpaper company (Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing). In addition to the main profile, the company tested cellophane and various surfaces that do not allow moisture to pass through.
I would like to immediately add that now we will talk specifically about adhesive tape, which is used for technical purposes, and not about, although their stories are slightly related.
So, back to Drew, his job was to monitor how shops and workshops were using the new sandpaper, how effective it was and what its disadvantages were.
On one of his working days, he was in the painting part of the auto repair shop and noticed that the workers were not carefully painting the car in places where several colors should be used at once. To make the lines even, they placed paper, but it came off with pieces of paint and the result was not clear stripes, but broken ones.
After talking with the painter, Richard offered his help and promised to come up with a more convenient way to paint difficult areas. Having thought about this question thoroughly, he brought the worker a 5-centimeter-sized adhesive tape.
The master glued it and began to paint, but while applying the second color, the tape shrank and damaged the drawing, only upsetting the painter. This happened due to the fact that the glue was applied only to the edges.
Richard did not stop at one failure; he continued experiments with cellophane, rubber, resins and oils. And so on September 8, 1930, the first trial adhesive tape was sent to the customer for testing. His reaction was very good and the tape was released to the masses.
Scotch tape was supposed to be used for wrapping food, but it turned out to be much more practical. Two years later, the sales manager of the same company added a piece of blade to the tape to make it easier to cut and the product became even more indispensable of its kind.
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Story
The company assigned him to oversee the testing of a new model of "Wetordry" sandpaper in stores and automotive workshops. Once, while in one of these workshops, he noticed that when painting cars with two or more colors, the dividing lines were sloppy. He promised the painter to come up with something.
Scotch tape was originally used to wrap food, but during the Great Depression people came up with many other uses for tape.
Surgical tape - intended for temporary fastening of internal tissues; it is also used for partial clamping of blood vessels (instead of clamps that clamp the vessels completely). There are also especially durable Scotchcast modifications that replace a plaster cast for fractures.
Recently, adhesive tape has been used as a means to create so-called paintings and sculptures from adhesive tape. This unusual form of art uses colored translucent ribbons of different widths. Sculptor and artist Mark Huisman works in this style.
Plumbing tape
Plumbing tape, so-called “duct tape”.
Plumbing or reinforced tape is used to wrap pipes, eliminate leaks, strengthen joints and cracks in pipes, seal casings, panels and seams, as well as protect air channels from water, steam and humidity. In Russia it is designated TPL (Tissue-Polyethylene Tape), and in the USA it is called “Duct tape” or “100-mile tape” (mainly in the army). One of the most popular adhesive tapes.
It was jointly invented by the companies and Johnson & Johnson around 1942, and was initially supplied to the US Army. Soldiers quickly came to appreciate this durable polyethylene tape with excellent adhesive properties and used it for everything from building dugouts to making temporary dressings. With the end of the war, this tape went on sale and became the same widely used item as its predecessors - transparent and masking tape.
This tape is made from fabric laminated with polyethylene, or from polyethylene reinforced with glass fibers. A characteristic feature is that it is easily torn by hand, due to the fibers reinforcing the tape. In the 70s, a subtype of this tape was invented, improved in adhesion, easier to tear by hand (since it consists entirely of fabric), and does not leave traces of glue after removing the tape. When plumber's tape first became available to US soldiers, it was olive green, a khaki color. But in everyday life, gray and black colors of this tape are more common, although red, green, blue and white are also found. This is because the tape went on sale shortly after the war, but plumbers complained that it stood out from the pipes. The Henkel company succumbed to complaints from plumbers and made silver-colored tape.
Plumbing tape is now a fetish of world mass culture. It was first shown in the TV series MacGyver. Soon another famous use of this tape appears - as a means of tying and gluing a person’s mouth (example: the film “RED”).
Notes
Sources
Links
- Tape paintings - unusual art
- X-rays from tape. (Nature.com)
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
Synonyms:See what "Scotch" is in other dictionaries:
Scotch, eh... Russian word stress
1. duct tape, a; m. [English] Scotch]. Razg. Barley whiskey (made in Scotland). 2. SCOTCH At the request of the trademark owner, the correct interpretation of the term is indicated: Scotch is a trademark, a trade name for various types of transparent or... ... encyclopedic Dictionary
At the request of the trademark owner, the correct interpretation of the term is indicated: Scotch tape is a trademark, a trade name for various types of transparent or translucent adhesive tape of the 3M company. ... Dictionary of foreign words of the Russian language
At the request of the trademark owner, the correct interpretation of the term is indicated: Scotch trademark, a trade name for various types of transparent or translucent adhesive tape from the 3M company, made primarily from cellulose acetate or... ... Modern explanatory dictionary of the Russian language by Efremova
In common parlance - a film tape with an adhesive coating used in everyday life and in production, technologically using the physical phenomenon of adhesion. It is produced, as a rule, in the form of a roll with an external non-adhesive surface, much less often - with double-sided application of glue.
Used for gluing objects together, as well as providing a protective or decorative coating for objects.
Adhesiveness depends on the thickness of the adhesive layer (10-30 microns); glue can be acrylic or rubber. It is applied to films made of different materials - foil, paper, polyethylene film, PVC film, etc. Scotch tape is usually called polypropylene tape.
In 1923, Richard Drew took a job as a laboratory technician at the Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company (now called 3M), which produced sandpaper. This company conducted research into waterproof surfaces and experimented with cellophane.
The company assigned him to oversee the testing of a new model of "Wetordry" sandpaper in stores and automotive workshops. Once, while in one of these workshops, he noticed that when painting cars with two or more colors, the dividing lines were sloppy. He promised the painter to come up with something.
In 1925, Richard Drew brought 5 cm wide duct tape to a car repair shop for testing. The painter decided to use a prototype, but when he began to apply a different color, he noticed that the tape was warping. Taking a closer look, the painter realized that, in order to save money, the glue was applied only to the edges of the tape, and informed the inventor about this.
In 1929, Drew ordered 90 meters of cellophane. He had to develop a way to evenly apply the glue to the tape. On September 8, 1930, a prototype tape was sent for testing to a customer in Chicago. Duct tape was originally used to wrap food, but during the Great Depression people came up with many other uses for duct tape.
In 1932, John Borden improved duct tape by adding a feeder with a blade to cut a piece of tape with one hand. By the way, despite its name, “scotch” was not invented in Scotland or by a Scot.
Initially, glue was applied only to the edges of the tape. For this, the Americans nicknamed the adhesive tape “scotch” (English scotch - Scottish) since at that time there were legends about Scottish stinginess. There is also a legend whose heroes are Drew and the same painter. When Richard brought the tape into the workshop and the painter noticed that the glue was only on the edges of the tape, he shouted: “Go to your Scotch boss and tell him to make this Scotch tape even more sticky!” That's how the name came about: Scotch Tape. Scotch Tape - initially this was just the name for transparent (packaging) tape. But in Russian-speaking countries, “scotch” is the name for any adhesive tape, mainly due to the fact that the first Western adhesive tape in Russia was 3M tape.
By the way, nowadays there are already a huge number of varieties of adhesive and insulating tape, which have a variety of properties, characteristics and appearance, each of which has its own special purpose. This amazing invention is used in many areas of life, from classic transparent tape in office and household use, to industry, for example, the K-Flex ST roll is used to insulate cables for various purposes. Overall, I think it is quite clear that this invention has had a significant impact on our lives.
