Transparent adhesive tape was first developed by Richard Drew in St. Paul, Minnesota, USA. On May 30, 1928, applications were filed in both Britain and the United States. Drew had developed a very light, pressure-sensitive adhesive. Initial attempts were not sticky enough, so Drew was told, "Take this thing back to your Scottish bosses and tell them to put in more glue!" ("Scottish" means "stingy"). However, during the Great Depression, hundreds of uses were found for this tape, from mending clothes to protecting broken eggs. Why does tape stick? It's because of the adhesive coating on its surface! The earliest adhesives came from animals and plants. In the 19th century, rubber was the main component of adhesives; while today, various polymers are widely used. Adhesives stick because their molecules form bonds with the molecules of the object to be bonded, and these bonds firmly bind the molecules together. The composition of adhesives... Depending on the brand and type, there are various polymers used.
In the early 1920s, when two-tone cars were popular, Dick Drew, a researcher at 3M, overheard workers in the car body manufacturing plant complaining that the strong adhesive tape used when painting cars caused excessive paint peeling, forcing them to constantly touch up the paint. He then began developing a low-viscosity adhesive tape, which became the world's first masking tape. However, the president of 3M was unwilling to support the project, but Drew did not give up. He seized opportunities from small orders and continued his research. Several years later, Drew invented cellophane tape. During World War II, Johnson & Johnson added a waterproof coating to its medical bandages; this tape later evolved into the world-famous plumbing tape. During the post-war reconstruction efforts, it was widely used in plumbing projects, becoming the tape that connected the world. This is the origin of the name of this silver tape.
