Duct tape#Etymology

Image:AS17-137-20979.jpg mission]]

The first material called "duck tape" was long strips of plain non-adhesive cotton duck cloth used in making shoes stronger, for decoration on clothing, and for wrapping steel cables or electrical conductors to protect them from corrosion or wear.{{cite news |last=Freeman |first=Jan |title=Tale of the tape |newspaper=Boston Globe |date=March 14, 2010 |url=https://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2010/03/14/tale_of_the_tape/ |access-date=September 27, 2012 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121018012538/http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2010/03/14/tale_of_the_tape/ |archive-date=October 18, 2012 }} For instance, in 1902, steel cables supporting the Manhattan Bridge were first covered in linseed oil then wrapped in duck tape before being laid in place.{{Cite news |url=http://eagle.brooklynpubliclibrary.org/Default/Scripting/ArchiveView.asp?skin=BEagle&AppName=2&GZ=T&BaseHref=BEG%2F1902%2F11%2F21&PageSize=3&enter=true&Page=15 |title=Wrapping on Cables of New East River Bridge |page=15 |work=The Brooklyn Daily Eagle |date=November 21, 1902 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121017204729/http://eagle.brooklynpubliclibrary.org/Default/Scripting/ArchiveView.asp?skin=BEagle&AppName=2&GZ=T&BaseHref=BEG%2F1902%2F11%2F21&PageSize=3&enter=true&Page=15 |archive-date=October 17, 2012 }} "Considering... that 100,000 yards of cotton duck tape must be wrapped around the cable with neatness and exactitude, it may be imagined that this method of cable preservation is quite expensive." In the 1910s, certain boots and shoes used canvas duck fabric for the upper or for the insole, and duck tape was sometimes sewn in for reinforcement.{{cite journal |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Gw0xAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA27 |title=Increased Use of Fabrics by Shoe Trade |journal=Textile World Journal |date=March 27, 1920 |volume=LVII |number=13 |location=New York |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131215004421/http://books.google.com/books?id=Gw0xAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA27 |archive-date=December 15, 2013 }} In 1936, the US-based Insulated Power Cables Engineers Association specified a wrapping of duck tape as one of many methods used to protect rubber-insulated power cables.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=v8mwoTvnA48C&pg=PA716 |page=716 |title=National Directory of Commodity Specifications |author1=United States National Bureau of Standards |author2=Paul A. Cooley |author3=Ann Elizabeth Rapuzzi |publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office |year=1945 |volume=178 |series=NBS special publication |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131211093713/http://books.google.com/books?id=v8mwoTvnA48C&pg=PA716 |archive-date=2013-12-11 }} In 1942, Gimbel's department store offered venetian blinds that were held together with vertical strips of duck tape.{{cite magazine |last=Safire |first=William |author-link=William Safire |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/02/magazine/the-way-we-live-now-3-02-03-on-language-why-a-duck.html |title=The Way We Live Now: On Language; Why A Duck |magazine=The New York Times Magazine |date=March 2, 2003 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171019164016/http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/02/magazine/the-way-we-live-now-3-02-03-on-language-why-a-duck.html |archive-date=October 19, 2017 }}

Glue backed or impregnated adhesive tapes of various sorts were in use by the 1910s, including rolls of cloth tape with adhesive coating one side. White adhesive tape made of cloth soaked in rubber and zinc oxide was used in hospitals to bind wounds, but other tapes such as friction tape or electrical tape could be substituted in an emergency.{{cite journal |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5SgDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA925 |page=925 |title=Friction Tape Used for Plaster Strips |journal=Popular Science |date=December 1916 |last=Sommer |first=Otto |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131215063822/http://books.google.com/books?id=5SgDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA925 |archive-date=2013-12-15 }} In 1930, the magazine Popular Mechanics described how to make adhesive tape at home using plain cloth tape soaked in a heated liquid mixture of rosin and rubber from inner tubes.{{cite journal |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nuMDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA856 |page=856 |title=Rubber and Rosin Make Compound for Many Uses |journal=Popular Mechanics |date=May 1930 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131215002231/http://books.google.com/books?id=nuMDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA856 |archive-date=2013-12-15 }}

In 1923, tape pioneer Richard Gurley Drew at 3M invented masking tape, a paper-based tape with a mildly sticky adhesive intended to be temporarily used and removed rather than left in place permanently. In 1925, this became the Scotch brand masking tape. In 1930, Drew developed a transparent cellophane-based tape, dubbed Scotch tape. This tape was widely used beginning in the Great Depression to repair household items.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XKiGgl36bkgC&pg=PA98 |pages=98–99 |last=Carey |first=Charles W. |title=American Inventors, Entrepreneurs, and Business Visionaries |publisher=Infobase Publishing |year=2009 |isbn=978-0816068838 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131213054111/http://books.google.com/books?id=XKiGgl36bkgC&pg=PA98 |archive-date=2013-12-13 }} Neither of these inventions was based on cloth tape.

The ultimate wide-scale adoption of duck tape, today generally referred to as duct tape, came from ordnance worker Vesta Stoudt. Stoudt was worried that problems with ammunition box seals could cost soldiers precious time in battle, so she wrote to President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1943 with the idea to seal the boxes with a fabric tape prototype which she had tested.[http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1943/10/24/page/1/article/couldnt-keep-her-idea-down "Couldn't Keep Her Idea Down"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150506050728/http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1943/10/24/page/1/article/couldnt-keep-her-idea-down/ |date=2015-05-06 }}, 24 October 1943, Chicago Tribune The letter was forwarded to the War Production Board, which put Johnson & Johnson on the job.{{cite web |url=http://www.kilmerhouse.com/2012/06/the-woman-who-invented-duct-tape/ |title=The Woman Who Invented Duct Tape |last1=Gurowitz |first1=Margaret |date=June 21, 2012 |website=KilmerHouse.com |publisher=Johnson & Johnson |access-date=10 January 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140111053805/http://www.kilmerhouse.com/2012/06/the-woman-who-invented-duct-tape/ |archive-date=11 January 2014 }} The Revolite division of Johnson & Johnson had made medical adhesive tapes based on duck cloth from 1927, and a team headed by Revolite's Johnny Denoye and Johnson & Johnson's Bill Gross developed the new adhesive tape,{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m6QsJPZcWUUC&pg=PA131 |pages=131–132 |last=Petroski |first=Henry |author-link=Henry Petroski |title=Small Things Considered: Why There Is No Perfect Design |publisher=Random House Digital |year=2004 |isbn=1400032938 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131210000856/http://books.google.com/books?id=m6QsJPZcWUUC&pg=PA131 |archive-date=2013-12-10 }} designed to be ripped by hand, not cut with scissors.

Their new unnamed product was made of thin cotton duck coated in waterproof polyethylene (plastic) with a layer of rubber-based gray adhesive (branded as "Polycoat") bonded to one side.{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/jumboducttapeboo00berg |url-access=registration |page=[https://archive.org/details/jumboducttapeboo00berg/page/10 10] |title=The Jumbo Duct Tape Book |first1=Jim |last1=Berg |first2=Tim |last2=Nyberg |publisher=Workman Publishing |year=2000 |isbn=0761121102 }}{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rVQfBSlAZvAC&pg=PA22 |pages=22–23 |first1=David John |last1=Cole |first2=Eve |last2=Browning |first3=Fred E. H. |last3=Schroeder |title=Encyclopedia of Modern Everyday Inventions |year=2003 |publisher=Greenwood Publishing |isbn=0313313458 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131213155533/http://books.google.com/books?id=rVQfBSlAZvAC&pg=PA22 |archive-date=2013-12-13 }}{{cite web |url=http://www.duckbrand.com/Duck%20Tape%20Club/history-of-duck-tape.aspx |title=History of Duck Tape |publisher=Duck Brand |access-date=August 27, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120812084402/http://www.duckbrand.com/Duck%20Tape%20Club/history-of-duck-tape.aspx |archive-date=August 12, 2012 |df=mdy-all }}{{cite news|title=Genericide: When a Brand Name Becomes Generic|url=http://www.cbc.ca/ageofpersuasion/episode/season-5/2011/05/06/season-five-genericide-when-a-brand-name-becomes-generic-1/|work=Age of Persuasion|publisher=CBC|access-date=14 May 2011|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110514150320/http://www.cbc.ca/ageofpersuasion/episode/season-5/2011/05/06/season-five-genericide-when-a-brand-name-becomes-generic-1/|archive-date=14 May 2011}}{{cite journal |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zFimLDoTkZQC&pg=PA18 |page=18 |last=Steele |first=Randy |title=Tale of the Tape |journal=Boating |date=July 2003 |quote=In 1942 research scientists at Johnson & Johnson sandwiched a layer of mesh fabric—cotton duck—between a top layer of green polyethylene plastic and a bottom layer of rubber glue, and pressed them together. |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160424075143/https://books.google.com/books?id=zFimLDoTkZQC&pg=PA18 |archive-date=2016-04-24 }} It was easy to apply and remove and was soon adapted to repair military equipment quickly, including vehicles and weapons. This tape, colored in army-standard matte olive drab, was widely used by the soldiers.{{cite journal |url=https://www.forbes.com/2006/03/14/tools-duct-tape_cx_de_0315ducttape.html |title=The Other Greatest Tool Ever |last=Ewalt |first=David M. |journal=Forbes |date=March 15, 2006 |access-date=August 27, 2012 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120911010636/http://www.forbes.com/2006/03/14/tools-duct-tape_cx_de_0315ducttape.html |archive-date=September 11, 2012 }}

After the war, the duck tape product was sold in hardware stores for household repairs. The Melvin A. Anderson Company of Cleveland, Ohio, acquired the rights to the tape in 1950. It was commonly used in construction to wrap air ducts. Following this application, the name "duct tape" came into use in the 1950s, along with tape products that were colored silvery gray like tin ductwork. Specialized heat- and cold-resistant tapes were developed for heating and air-conditioning ducts. By 1960, a St. Louis, Missouri, HVAC company, Albert Arno, Inc., trademarked the name "Ductape" for their "flame-resistant" duct tape, capable of holding together at {{convert|350|–|400|°F|°C}}.{{cite magazine |magazine=Heating & Air Conditioning Contractor |title=advertisement: Arno Ductape |volume=52 |pages=88, 97 |publisher=Edwin A. Scott Publishing |year=1960}}

In 1971, Jack Kahl bought the Anderson firm and renamed it Manco. In 1975, Kahl rebranded the duct tape made by his company. He was able to trademark the brand "Duck Tape" and market his product complete with a yellow cartoon duck logo. Manco chose the term "Duck", the tape's original name, as "a play on the fact that people often refer to duct tape as 'duck tape{{'"}},{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/guerrillamarketi00levi_0 |url-access=registration |page=[https://archive.org/details/guerrillamarketi00levi_0/page/249 249] |first1=Jay Conrad |last1=Levinson |first2=Seth |last2=Godin |title=The Guerrilla Marketing Handbook |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt |year=1994 |isbn=0395700132 }} and as a marketing differentiation to stand out against other sellers of duct tape.[http://www.sbnonline.com/article/112357/ "John Kahl finds the formula of product, people and partners adheres to success for ShurTech"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151208102750/http://www.sbnonline.com/article/112357/ |date=2015-12-08 }}, 1 November 2014, Smart Business[http://www.shurtech.com/about-us/ "ShurTech About Us"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151127145201/http://www.shurtech.com/about-us |date=2015-11-27 }} In 1979, the Duck Tape marketing plan involved sending out greeting cards with the duck branding, four times a year, to 32,000 hardware managers. This mass of communication combined with colorful, convenient packaging helped Duck Tape become popular. From a near-zero customer base, Manco eventually controlled 40% of the duct tape market in the US. Acquired by Henkel in 1998,{{cite web|url=https://www.duckbrand.com/about|title=How Duck Tape was Named|access-date=19 January 2025|publisher=Duck Brand}} Duck Tape was sold to Shurtape Technologies in 2009.{{cite web |url=http://www.shurtech.com/about-us/ |title=ShurTech Brands |website=shurtech.com |access-date=29 January 2017 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170318042559/http://www.shurtech.com/about-us |archive-date=18 March 2017 }}{{cite web |url=https://www.shurtape.com/company-history |title=Shurtape Technologies |website=shurtech.com |access-date=29 January 2017 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170224121736/https://www.shurtape.com/company-history |archive-date=24 February 2017 }}

Shurtape introduced a strong, weather-resistant version called "T-Rex Tape".{{cite web|url=https://www.trextape.com/|title=T-Rex Tape - Strong, Weather-Resistant Duct Tape|access-date=19 January 2025|publisher=T-Rex Tape}} "Ultimate Duck", which had been Henkel's top-of-the-line variety, is still sold in the United Kingdom.{{cite web|url=https://www.ducktape.co.uk/products/ultimate-duck-tape-black/|title=ULTIMATE DUCK TAPE|publisher=Ducktape|access-date=19 January 2025}} Ultimate Duck, T-Rex Tape, and the competing Gorilla Tape all advertise "three-layer technology".

After profiting from Scotch Tape in the 1930s, 3M had produced military materiel during World War II and by 1946 had developed the first practical vinyl electrical tape.{{cite book |title=A century of innovation: the 3M story |page=129 |publisher=3M Company |year=2002 |isbn=0972230203}} By 1977, the company was selling a heat-resistant duct tape for heating ducts.{{cite journal |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ieIDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA123 |page=77 |title=Home Energy Guide: Insulation |journal=Popular Mechanics |date=September 1977 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131013011425/http://books.google.com/books?id=ieIDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA123 |archive-date=2013-10-13 }} In the late 1990s, 3M's tape division had an annual turnover of $300 million and was the US industry leader.{{cite journal |journal=The Journal of Employee Ownership Law and Finance |title=Manco Duck Tape |volume=9 |page=14 |publisher=National Center for Employee Ownership |year=1997}} In 2004, 3M released a semi-transparent duct tape, with a clear polyethylene film and white fiberglass mesh.{{cite web |url=http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3M/en_US/3M-Company/Information/Resources/History/ |work=Company Information |title=History |publisher=3M |access-date=August 27, 2012 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120901161011/http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3M/en_US/3M-Company/Information/Resources/History/ |archive-date=September 1, 2012 }}

{{see also|Chemistry of adhesive tapes#Composition}}

Modern duct tape is made variously from cotton, polyester, nylon, rayon, or fiberglass mesh fabric to provide strength. The fabric, a very thin gauze called "scrim", is laminated to a backing of low-density polyethylene (LDPE). The color of the LDPE is provided by various pigments; the usual gray color comes from powdered aluminum mixed into the LDPE. Two tape widths are common: {{convert|1.9|in|mm|abbr=on}} and {{convert|2|in|mm|abbr=on|0}}. Other widths are also offered.{{cite book |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wt5qQslgpV0C&pg=PA299 |pages=291–331 |last=Smith |first=Jenny M. |chapter=Forensic Examination of Pressure Sensitive Tape |title=Forensic Analysis on the Cutting Edge: New Methods for Trace Evidence Analysis |editor=Robert D. Blackledge |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |year=2007 |isbn=978-0471716440 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131213073428/http://books.google.com/books?id=wt5qQslgpV0C&pg=PA299 |archive-date=2013-12-13 }} The largest commercial rolls of duct tape were made in 2005 for Henkel, with {{convert|3.78|in|cm}} width, a roll diameter of {{convert|64|in|cm}} and weighing {{convert|650|lb|kg}}.{{cite book|title=Discover's 20 Things You Didn't Know About Everything|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K_OcMvcqUPIC&pg=PA134|access-date=31 January 2013|date=2008-07-08|publisher=HarperCollins|isbn=9780061734335|pages=134–|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131012233736/http://books.google.com/books?id=K_OcMvcqUPIC&pg=PA134|archive-date=12 October 2013}}

{{expand section|selected cited examples of non-industrial and popular improvised uses|date=September 2020}}

File:Transparent duct tape roll.png

Duct tape is commonly used in situations that require a strong, flexible, and very sticky tape. Some have a long-lasting adhesive and resistance to weathering.

A specialized version, gaffer tape, which does not leave a sticky residue when removed, is preferred by gaffers in the theatre, motion picture and television industries.

The product now commonly called duct tape has largely been displaced in HVAC uses with specialized foil tapes designed for sealing heating and ventilation ducts (sometimes referred to erroneously as "duct tapes").

Common duct tape carries no safety certifications such as UL or Proposition 65, which means the tape may burn violently, producing toxic smoke; it may cause ingestion and contact toxicity, it can have irregular mechanical strength, and its adhesive may have low life expectancy. Its use in ducts has been prohibited by the state of California{{cite web|url=http://www.energy.ca.gov/title24/changeout/ |title=California Energy Commission Title 24 of the Building Energy Efficiency Standards |publisher=Energy.ca.gov |access-date=2009-07-21 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090714033548/http://www.energy.ca.gov/title24/changeout/ |archive-date=July 14, 2009 }} and by building codes in many other places.

Research was conducted in 1998 on standard duct tape at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Environmental Energy Technologies Division, which concluded that under challenging but realistic conditions duct tape becomes brittle, fails, and may even fall off completely.{{cite web|url=http://www.lbl.gov/Science-Articles/Archive/duct-tape-HVAC.html|work=Lawrence Berkeley National Lab Energy Performance of Buildings Group|title=Sealing HVAC Ducts: Use Anything But Duct Tape|date=1998-08-17|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070504043646/http://www.lbl.gov/Science-Articles/Archive/duct-tape-HVAC.html|archive-date=2007-05-04}}{{citation |author=Max Sherman, Lain Walker |title=Can Duct Tape Take the Heat? |publisher=Home Energe Magazine |url=http://www.homeenergy.org/show/article/nav/walls/page/9/id/1400/magazine/110 |access-date=September 27, 2012 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130216034927/http://www.homeenergy.org/show/article/nav/walls/page/9/id/1400/magazine/110 |archive-date=February 16, 2013 }}

{{quote|Interviewer: And duct tape works in the vacuum of space as well as it does here?

Walker: Oh, yes. Yes, it does. It sticks.|Charles D. Walker, describing duct tape's use on STS-51-D{{cite interview |title=Oral History Transcript |date=14 April 2005 |url=https://historycollection.jsc.nasa.gov/JSCHistoryPortal/history/oral_histories/WalkerCD/WalkerCD_4-14-05.htm | last=Walker |first=Charles D. |interviewer=Johnson, Sandra |work=NASA Johnson Space Center Oral History Project}}}}

According to NASA engineer Jerry Woodfill duct tape had been stowed on board every mission since early in the Gemini program.{{Citation

|title = 13 Things That Saved Apollo 13, Part 10: Duct Tape

|url = http://www.universetoday.com/63673/13-things-that-saved-apollo-13-part-10-duct-tape/

|year = 2010

|author = Atkinson, Nancy

|access-date = 2013-05-30

|url-status = live

|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130813115829/http://www.universetoday.com/63673/13-things-that-saved-apollo-13-part-10-duct-tape/

|archive-date = 2013-08-13

}}

NASA engineers and astronauts have used duct tape in their work, including in some emergency situations. One such usage occurred in 1970 when Woodfill was working in Mission Control, when the square carbon dioxide filters from Apollo 13's failed command module had to be modified to fit round receptacles in the lunar module, which was being used as a lifeboat after an explosion en route to the Moon. A workaround used duct tape and other items on board Apollo 13, with the ground crew relaying instructions to the flight crew. The lunar module's CO₂ scrubbers started working again, saving the lives of the three astronauts on board.

Ed Smylie, who designed the scrubber modification in just two days, said later that he knew the problem was solvable when it was confirmed that duct tape was on the spacecraft: "I felt like we were home free," he said in 2005. "One thing a Southern boy will never say is, 'I don't think duct tape will fix it.{{'"}}[http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/space/3139248 Associated Press article] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050420040225/http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/space/3139248 |date=2005-04-20 }}, referring to the use of duct tape on Apollo 13.

Duct tape, referred to as "...good old-fashioned American gray tape..."[https://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2008/21apr_ducttape/ "Moondust and Duct Tape"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110816001757/http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2008/21apr_ducttape/ |date=2011-08-16 }}, April 21, 2008, science.nasa.gov was used by the Apollo 17 astronauts on the Moon to improvise a repair to a damaged fender on the lunar rover, preventing possible damage from the spray of lunar dust as they drove.{{Cite APOD|date=17 April 2004 |title=Lunar Dust and Duct Tape |access-date=2009-07-21}}

In the US submarine fleet, an adhesive cloth tape is called "EB Green," as the duct tape used by Electric Boat was green.{{cite web |url=http://community.discovery.com/eve/forums?a=tpc&s=6941912904&f=9741919888&m=55619699301&r=15719659801#15719659801 |title=The EB-Green myth - Topic |work=community.discovery.com |year=2011 |access-date=30 June 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110928064752/http://community.discovery.com/eve/forums?a=tpc&s=6941912904&f=9741919888&m=55619699301&r=15719659801#15719659801 |archive-date=28 September 2011 }}{{reliable source|date=February 2018}} It is also called "duck tape", "riggers' tape", "hurricane tape", or "100-mph tape";[http://www.airlifttechnologies.com/misc.htm Airlift Technologies] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101220050403/http://www.airlifttechnologies.com/misc.htm |date=2010-12-20 }} supplier of tape under this nameThe Medical NBC Battlebook USACHPPM Tech Guide 244 (May 2000) p 1.13 a name that comes from the use of a specific variety of duct tape that was supposed to withstand up to {{convert|100|mph|km/h kn|abbr=on}} winds. The tape is so named because it was used during the Vietnam War to repair or balance helicopter rotor blades.Vietnam Stories, Army Times (September 1993){{cite web |title=Vietnam -- Balancing Rotorblades With Duct Tape |url=http://4thbattalion77thfieldartilleryafa.blogspot.com/2011/06/vietnam-balancing-rotorblades-with-duct.html |date=June 5, 2011 |work=4th Battalion, 77th Field Artillery AFA [blog] |author=Richard T. Edwards |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120602072026/http://4thbattalion77thfieldartilleryafa.blogspot.com/2011/06/vietnam-balancing-rotorblades-with-duct.html |archive-date=June 2, 2012 }}

File:Ducttapewallet.JPG

Duct tape's widespread popularity and multitude of uses has earned it a strong place in popular culture, and has inspired a vast number of creative and imaginative applications.

Duct tape occlusion therapy (DTOT) is a method intended to treat warts by covering them with duct tape for an extended period. The evidence for its effectiveness is poor;{{cite journal|last=Wenner|first=R |author2=Askari, SK |author3=Cham, PM |author4=Kedrowski, DA |author5=Liu, A |author6=Warshaw, EM|title=Duct tape for the treatment of common warts in adults: a double-blind randomized controlled trial.|journal=Archives of Dermatology|date=March 2007|volume=143|issue=3|pages=309–13|pmid=17372095|doi=10.1001/archderm.143.3.309|doi-access=}}{{cite journal|last=Ringold|first=S |author2=Mendoza, JA |author3=Tarini, BA |author4=Sox, C|title=Is duct tape occlusion therapy as effective as cryotherapy for the treatment of the common wart?|journal=Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine|date=October 2002|volume=156|issue=10|pages=975–7|pmid=12361441|doi=10.1001/archpedi.156.10.975|doi-access=}} thus, it is not recommended as routine treatment.{{cite journal|last=Stubbings|first=A|author2=Wacogne, I|title=Question 3. What is the efficacy of duct tape as a treatment for verruca vulgaris?|journal=Archives of Disease in Childhood|date=September 2011|volume=96|issue=9|pages=897–9|pmid=21836182|doi=10.1136/archdischild-2011-300533|s2cid=206853952}} However, other studies suggest the duct tape treatment is more effective than existing medical options.{{cite journal|url=http://archpedi.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=203979|title=The Efficacy of Duct Tape vs Cryotherapy in the Treatment of Verruca Vulgaris|journal=Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine|date=October 2002|volume=156|issue=10|pages=971–974|doi=10.1001/archpedi.156.10.971|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130620152942/http://archpedi.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=203979|archive-date=2013-06-20|last2=Spicer|first2=Carole|last3=Fairchok|first3=Mary P.|pmid=12361440|last1=Focht Dr|first1=3rd|doi-access=|url-access=subscription}}{{cite web|last1=T|first1=Rick |title=10 Medical Uses For Duct Tape|url=https://healthprep.com/technology-health/10-medical-uses-for-duct-tape/10/|website=Healthprep}} Duct tape is often used in shoe repair due to its resiliency.{{cite web |url=https://www.sunset.com/travel/hiking-hack-how-duct-tape-saved-my-soles |title=Hiking Hack: How Duct Tape Saved My Sole(s) |work=Sunset |last=McCrea |first=Megan |date=26 September 2017 |access-date=October 31, 2018}}{{cite web |url=https://drewsboots.com/content/dos-and-donts-diy-shoe-repair |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181101015655/https://drewsboots.com/content/dos-and-donts-diy-shoe-repair |archive-date=2018-11-01 |title=The Do's and Don't's of DIY Shoe Repair |work=Drew's Shoes |access-date=October 31, 2018}}

Duct tape has been used to temporarily fix Apple's iPhone 4 dropped call issue, as an alternative to Apple's own rubber case.{{cite news |url=http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/mobile/07/13/iphone.4.duct.tape/index.html?hpt=C1 |title=iPhone duct tape fix |publisher=CNN |date=2010-07-13 |access-date=2010-07-13 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100717043712/http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/mobile/07/13/iphone.4.duct.tape/index.html?hpt=C1 |archive-date=2010-07-17 }}

File:120107-LA-USC-UCLA02.jpg's Tommy Trojan statue wrapped in duct tape to protect it from crosstown football rival UCLA{{cite news |title=Pranks a big part of football rivalry |last=Smith |first=Marcia C. |date=28 November 2006 |url=https://www.ocregister.com/2006/11/28/pranks-a-big-part-of-football-rivalry/ |work=The Orange County Register}}]]

The Duct Tape Guys (Jim Berg and Tim Nyberg) have written seven books about duct tape, {{as of|2005|lc=y}}. Their books have sold over 1.5 million copies and feature real and unusual uses of duct tape. In 1994 they coined the phrase "it ain't broke, it just lacks duct tape".

The sitcom The Red Green Show{{'s}} title character often used duct tape (which he dubbed "the handyman's secret weapon") as both a shortcut to proper fastening as well as for unconventional uses. The series sometimes showcased fan duct tape creations. The series had a feature film based on it entitled Duct Tape Forever and several VHS/DVD compilations of the show's use of the tape have been released. Since 2000, series star Steve Smith (as "Red Green") has been the "Ambassador of Scotch Duct Tape" for 3M.[http://www.3m.com/intl/CA/english/about_us/press_releases/pnews00-01-s.html 3M Canada Press Box] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080828100449/http://www.3m.com/intl/CA/english/about_us/press_releases/pnews00-01-s.html |date=2008-08-28 }}

The Discovery Channel series MythBusters featured duct tape in a number of myths that involve non-traditional uses. Confirmed myths include suspending a car for a period of time, building a functional cannon, a two-person sailboat, a two-person canoe (with duct tape paddles), a two-person raft, Roman sandals, a chess set, a leak proof water canister, rope, a hammock that can support the weight of an adult male, holding a car in place, a bridge that spanned the width of a dry dock, and a full-scale functional trebuchet with duct tape as the only binder. In the episode "Duct Tape Plane", the MythBusters repaired (and eventually replaced) the skin of a lightweight airplane with duct tape and flew it a few meters above a runway.

Garrison Keillor's radio show A Prairie Home Companion included comedic fictional commercials sponsored by the "American Duct Tape Council".

In 2019 Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan created a concept art piece titled Comedian{{cite news |last=O'Neil |first=Luke |title=One banana, what could it cost? $120,000 – if it's art |date=6 December 2019 |work=The Guardian |access-date=25 December 2019 |archive-date=30 December 2019 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2019/dec/06/maurizio-cattelan-banana-duct-tape-comedian-art-basel-miami |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191230170749/https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2019/dec/06/maurizio-cattelan-banana-duct-tape-comedian-art-basel-miami |url-status=live}} involving taping a banana to a wall using silver duct tape. The piece was exhibited briefly at the Art Basel in Miami.{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/08/arts/design/banana-removed-art-basel.html |title=Banana Splits: Spoiled by Its Own Success, the $120,000 Fruit Is Gone |last=Pogrebin |first=Robin |date=8 December 2019 |work=The New York Times |access-date=25 December 2019 |archive-date=15 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191215171600/https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/08/arts/design/banana-removed-art-basel.html |url-status=live}}

File:Government issue duct tape.jpg, whose primary customer is the U.S. federal government]]

The term duct tape alert refers to the recommendations made by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security on February 10, 2003, that Americans should prepare for a biological, chemical, or radiological terrorist attack by assembling a "disaster supply kit", including duct tape and plastic (presumably to attempt to seal one's home against nuclear, chemical, and biological contaminants), among other items.{{cite web

|title = Biological Weapons Fact Sheet

|publisher = Department of Homeland Security

|url = https://www.dhs.gov/xnews/releases/press_release_0083.shtm

|url-status = dead

|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120205050131/http://www.dhs.gov/xnews/releases/press_release_0083.shtm

|archive-date = 2012-02-05

}}{{cite web

|title = Chemical Weapons Fact Sheet

|publisher = Department of Homeland Security

|url = https://www.dhs.gov/xnews/releases/press_release_0084.shtm

|url-status = dead

|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120205050138/http://www.dhs.gov/xnews/releases/press_release_0084.shtm

|archive-date = 2012-02-05

}}{{cite web

|title = Radiological Dispersion Devices Fact Sheet

|publisher = Department of Homeland Security

|url = https://www.dhs.gov/xnews/releases/press_release_0085.shtm

|url-status = dead

|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120205050143/http://www.dhs.gov/xnews/releases/press_release_0085.shtm

|archive-date = 2012-02-05

}} The recommendations followed an increase in the Department's official threat level to "orange", or "high risk", citing "recent intelligence reports".{{cite web

|title = Remarks by Secretary Ridge, Attorney General Ashcroft, and Director Mueller

|publisher = Department of Homeland Security

|url = https://www.dhs.gov/xnews/speeches/speech_0088.shtm

|url-status = dead

|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120205050148/http://www.dhs.gov/xnews/speeches/speech_0088.shtm

|archive-date = 2012-02-05

}}{{cite web

|title = Threat Level Raised to Orange

|publisher = Department of Homeland Security

|url = https://www.dhs.gov/xnews/releases/press_release_0087.shtm

|url-status = dead

|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120205050159/http://www.dhs.gov/xnews/releases/press_release_0087.shtm

|archive-date = 2012-02-05

}} According to press reports, the recommendations caused a surge in demand for duct tape.{{cite news

|last = Meserve

|first = Jeanne

|date = 2003-02-11

|title = Duct tape sales rise amid terror fears

|publisher = CNN.com

|url = http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/02/11/emergency.supplies

|url-status = live

|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20051211160646/http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/02/11/emergency.supplies/

|archive-date = 2005-12-11

}}

• List of adhesive tapes
• Speed tape

{{Reflist|30em}}

• ASTM International ASTM D5486 Standard Specification for Pressure-Sensitive Tape for Packaging, Box Closure, and Sealing, Type IV woven cloth backing
• ASTM D580 Standard Specification for Greige Woven Glass Tapes and Webbings
• ASTM D4514-12 Standard Specification for Friction Tape
• ASTM D2754-10 Standard Specification for High-Temperature Glass Cloth Pressure-Sensitive Electrical Insulating Tape
• MODUK DEF STAN 81-25, EN-Tape Pressure-Sensitive Adhesive (Water Resistant Fabric)
• McDonnell-Douglas DMS1968E
• Lockheed LCP-86-1226-A
• Boeing D 6-8099
• Ford specification ESB-M3G71-B
• etc.

• "Pressure-Sensitive Adhesives and Applications", Istvan Benedek, 2004, {{ISBN|0-8247-5059-4}}
• "Pressure Sensitive Adhesive Tapes", J. Johnston, PSTC, 2003, {{ISBN|0-9728001-0-7}}
• "Pressure Sensitive Formulation", I. Benedek, VSP, 2000, {{ISBN|90-6764-330-0}}

{{Commons category}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20070327194638/http://ducts.lbl.gov/ducttape/ Duct Sealant Longevity]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Duct Tape}}

Category:Adhesive tape

Category:Products introduced in 1942