![]() In 1961, 3M released Scotch-brand Magic Tape. In 1945, Scotch-brand tapes introduced a tartan design and in the 1950s, mascot Scotty McTape appeared in print and television advertising. Over the decades, Drew and other 3M inventors developed a wide range of other tapes. By 1939, 3M had started marketing Scotch Tape in the familiar snail-shaped package to allow for easy tape dispensing. Scotch Tape could repair items almost invisibly, giving household goods longer lives at a time when replacing them was out of the question. People discovered that the tape could mend items and make them last longer. Although DuPont invented a way to heat seal cellophane packages shortly thereafter, making the tape redundant, Scotch Tape had already found a niche in the American home.Įven though Depression-era Americans had less disposable income than usual, Scotch Tape became a necessity for the times. His experiments led to the 1930 release of Scotch-brand cellulose tape. ![]() Drew thought that he could use the cellophane itself, coated with an adhesive, to provide a good seal. Cellophane was frequently used to wrap products in bakeries and grocery stores, but it could not seal the packages. It's said that while using this insufficiently sticky tape, a frustrated auto painter said: "Why so Scotch with the adhesive?" The story goes that Drew took the hint and added more adhesive until both the tape and the name stuck.Īfter he created masking tape, Drew began to experiment with adhesives to create another kind of pressure-sensitive tape. In early versions of the tape, some say, Drew applied only minimal adhesive to avoid over sticking. Scotch was a pejorative meaning cheap or stingy. While there is some uncertainty about why the line of tape was dubbed Scotch, company legend says that the name came about during the tape's testing phase. In 1925, 3M released Drew's invention: the Scotch-brand masking tape. He applied it to a crepe paper backing, which gave the tape the ability to stretch and adapt to curves and contours. ![]() He eventually found an adhesive that sealed tightly while releasing cleanly. After seeing the problem, Drew had the idea to create a new tape.Īfter presenting the idea to his supervisors, Drew was granted the use of a laboratory, where he experimented with different adhesives and backings. The tapes left gummy residue that ruined the car's finish. The tape that painters used either didn't seal effectively or stuck so tightly that it peeled the paint. At the auto shops, Drew watched painters struggle to seal off areas for the two-color painting process. While on a delivery in 1923, he noticed that the auto shops had a problem.Īt the time, two-tone paint jobs were very popular. ![]() He was hired to take trial samples of 3M products to auto shops, which used the sandpaper to prepare cars for painting. Drew, then an engineering student, had been putting himself through school by playing the banjo in several Twin Cities dance bands. When it put out a call for new engineers to join the company, Richard Drew wrote to ask for the job. By 1920 the company had developed some of the best sandpapers in the world. Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing (3M) was founded in Two Harbors in 1902. 3M's Scotch-brand masking tape and cellophane tape were small inventions that started a consumer revolution. Soon the sandpaper company invented a line of products that changed household life around the world. When 3M began doing business in 1902, it made sandpaper. ![]()
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