Scotch tape#Magic tape

In 1930, Richard Drew, a 3M engineer, developed the first transparent sticky tape in St. Paul, Minnesota with a material known as cellophane.{{cite web|url=http://www.3m.com/brands/scotch/anniversary/images/ScotchHistoryFinal.pdf |title=Scotch US – History of Scotch Brand – From Tape to Tacky Glue, Laminator Machines and more |publisher=3m.com |access-date=2010-03-28}}

Drew's inspiration came from watching automotive engineers try to achieve smooth paintings on two-color cars. Existing adhesives would remove underlying paint along when they were removed, requiring expensive and time-consuming touch-up work. Drew used 3M's extensive portfolio of sandpaper adhesives to find one with just enough tackiness to stay put during the painting process, but also remove easily when complete. According to 3M company history, Drew attempted to apply adhesive to only the edges of the tape to prevent it from adhering too strongly. When that version failed in testing, a shop floor told Drew to, “go tell his Scotch bosses that they shouldn’t be so cheap with the adhesive and put it on all the way!”{{Cite book |last=Huck |first=Virginia |title=Brand of the Tartan: The 3M Story |publisher=Appleton-Century-Crofts, Inc. |year=1955}} In those days, to say someone was being “Scotch” meant they were penny-pinching or miserly. The successful product would be named "Scotch" brand masking tape in 1925 and later evolved the product to be transparent.{{Cite web|title=Scotch Transparent Tape - National Historic Chemical Landmark|url=https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/education/whatischemistry/landmarks/scotchtape.html|publisher=American Chemical Society|language=en|access-date=2020-05-03}} The need for a transparent version of the tape was driven by food packagers trying to use clear cellophane paper to wrap individual and custom portions of food. Without an adhesive tape, the edges of the package would need to be melted together, making it costly and time-consuming.

In 1932, John A. Borden, also a 3M engineer working with Drew, invented the "snail" style tape dispenser. The first versions were metal, but later versions would be made of plastic.{{Cite web|title=Meet the Banjo-Playing Engineer Who Invented Scotch Tape|url=https://www.thoughtco.com/history-of-scotch-tape-1992403|last1=inventions|first1=Mary Bellis Inventions Expert Mary Bellis covered|last2=films|first2=inventors for ThoughtCo for 18 years She is known for her independent|website=ThoughtCo|language=en|access-date=2020-05-03|last3=documentaries|last4=Alex|first4=including one about|last5=Bellis|first5=er Graham Bell our editorial process Mary}} During the Great Depression, the versatility and durability of Scotch tape led to a surge in demand, as customers used it to mend household items like books, curtains, clothing, etc.{{Cite web|title=How the Invention of Scotch Tape Led to a Revolution in How Companies Managed Employees|url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/how-invention-scotch-tape-led-revolution-how-companies-managed-employees-180972437/|last=Matchar|first=Emily|website=Smithsonian Magazine|language=en|access-date=2020-05-03}} It had industrial applications as well: Goodyear used it to tape the inner supportive ribs of dirigibles to prevent corrosion.

Scotch tape become a cultural touchstone during the Great Depression, representing a desire to save money by repairing everyday items. Over the decades, it has come to represent the idea of "repair consumerism," where the average consumer can repair items they've purchased instead of replacing them.{{Cite book |last=Voiovich |first=Jason |title=Bullfrogs, Bingo, and the Little House on the Prairie: How Innovators of the Great Depression Made the Best of the Worst of Times |date=May 13, 2025 |publisher=Jaywalker Publishing |year=2025 |isbn=978-1-7370013-6-2 |pages=7-20}}

File:Made in China 3M Scotch Sealing Tape Barcode Yellow Label Price Sticker.jpg]]

File:Scotch Tape 1994 Front.png

Although Scotch is a trademark and a brand name, Scotch tape is sometimes used as a generic term,{{cite web|url=http://www.cbc.ca/ageofpersuasion/episode/season-5/2011/05/06/season-five-genericide-when-a-brand-name-becomes-generic-1/|title=Genericide: When a Brand Name Becomes Generic|website=CBC Radio|date=6 May 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171216130952/https://www.cbc.ca/ageofpersuasion/episode/season-5/2011/05/06/season-five-genericide-when-a-brand-name-becomes-generic-1/|archive-date=16 December 2017}}[https://www.consumerreports.org/consumerist/15-product-trademarks-that-have-become-victims-of-genericization/ 15 Product Trademarks That Have Become Victims Of Genericization]. Consumer Reports, 19 July 2014 in a similar manner to Sellotape in several other countries. The Scotch brand includes many different constructions (backings, adhesives, etc.) and colors of tape.

The use of the term Scotch in the name was a pejorative meaning "parsimonious" in the 1920s and 1930s. The brand name Scotch came about around 1925 while Richard Drew was testing his first masking tape to determine how much adhesive he needed to add. The body shop painter became frustrated with the sample masking tape and exclaimed, "Take this tape back to those Scotch bosses of yours and tell them to put more adhesive on it!"{{cite web|url=http://web.mit.edu/invent/iow/drew.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030403220013/http://web.mit.edu/invent/iow/drew.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=2003-04-03 |title=Inventor of the Week: Archive |publisher=Web.mit.edu |access-date=2013-07-18}}{{cite web

| last = Bellis | first = Mary | title = The History of Scotch Tape | publisher = About.com | url = http://inventors.about.com/od/sstartinventions/a/Scotch_Tape.htm | archive-url = https://archive.today/20130219215335/http://inventors.about.com/od/sstartinventions/a/Scotch_Tape.htm | url-status = dead | archive-date = 19 February 2013 | access-date = 25 January 2013 }} The name was soon applied to the entire line of 3M tapes.

Scotty McTape, a kilt-wearing cartoon boy, was the brand's mascot for two decades, first appearing in 1944.{{cite web|url=http://www.3m.com/brands/scotch/anniversary/tale_plaid.html |title=Scotch 75th Anniversary – The Tale of the Tape – Mad about Plaid |publisher=3m.com |access-date=2010-03-28}} The familiar tartan design, a take on the well-known Wallace tartan, was introduced in 1945.

The Scotch brand, Scotch Tape and Magic Tape are registered trademarks of 3M. Besides using Scotch as a prefix in its brand names (Scotchgard, Scotchlite, and Scotch-Brite), the company also used the Scotch name for its (mainly professional) audiovisual magnetic tape products, until the early 1990s when the tapes were branded solely with the 3M logo.{{cite web|url=http://www.aes.org/aeshc/docs/3mtape/soundtalk/soundtalkbull12.pdf|title=The Use of Metal and Plastic Reels with "Scotch" Sound Recording Tape|work=Sound Talk|publisher=3M|access-date=28 March 2010}} In 1996, 3M exited the magnetic tape business, selling its assets to Quantegy (which is a spin-off of Ampex).{{Cite web |date=August 26, 1996 |title=QUANTEGY INC. ACQUIRES 3M TAPE PROPERTIES |url=https://www.plasticsnews.com/article/19960826/NEWS/308269966/quantegy-inc-acquires-3m-tape-properties |access-date=August 5, 2024 |website=Plastic News}}

In the late 1960s, the Scotch theme was also applied to 3M's all-weather polyurethane Tartan track and the company's artificial grass, Tartan Turf.

Magic tape, also known as Magic transparent tape, is a brand within the Scotch tape family of adhesive tapes made by 3M, sold in distinctive plaid packaging.

Invented and introduced in 1961, it is the original matte finish tape. It appears frosty on the roll yet is invisible on paper. This quality makes it popular for gift-wrapping.An even less visible descendant of Magic tape, Scotch GiftWrap tape, was introduced in 1997. Magic tape can be written upon with pen, pencil, or marker; comes in permanent and removable varieties; and resists drying out and yellowing. {{citation needed|date=August 2013}}

In Japan, "Magic Tape" is a trademark of Kuraray for a hook-and-loop fastener system similar to Velcro. Instead, the katakana version of the word Mending Tape is used, i.e., {{lang|ja|メンディングテープ}}, along with the familiar green and yellow tartan branding.

In 1964, Scotch released their "Dynarange" brand of magnetic tape used in reel-to-reel audio tape recording.{{cite web |url=https://reeltoreelwarehouse.com/tape/scotch-203/ |title=Scotch 203 Dynarange|date=6 September 2020 }} The company branched out to produce tapes for computer storage, cassette tapes and similar roles.

In 1953, Soviet scientists showed that triboluminescence caused by peeling a roll of an unidentified Scotch brand tape in a vacuum can produce X-rays.Karasev, V. V., Krotova, N. A. & Deryagin, B. W. Study of electronic emission during the stripping of a layer of high polymer from glass in a vacuum. (in Russian) Dokl. Akad. Nauk. SSSR 88, 777–780 (1953). In 2008, American scientists performed an experiment that showed the rays can be strong enough to leave an X-ray image of a finger on photographic paper.Camara C. G., Escobar J. V., Hird J. R. and Putterman S. J., Correlation between nanosecond X-ray flashes and stick-slip friction in peeling tape, Nature 455, 1089–1092 (23 October 2008)

• Duct tape
• Pressure-sensitive tape
• Sellotape
• Velostat
• List of adhesive tapes

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{{Wiktionary}}

• [http://www.mnopedia.org/thing/scotch-tape Scotch Tape in MNopedia, the Minnesota Encyclopedia]
• [http://www.3m.com/brands/scotch/anniversary/tale.html History of Cellophane Tape and the Scotch Brand]
• [http://www.3m.com/brands/scotch/anniversary/ Scotch 75th Anniversary]—Pages with history information and old commercials featuring Scotty McTape
• [http://www.scotch-tape.co.uk/ Scotch-tape.co.uk]—Official website for the UK
• [http://www.scotchtape.com/ Scotchtape.com]—Official website for the USA
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20070322230942/http://ambidextrousmag.org/preview/issue5/i5p45_46.pdf Ambidextrousmag.org—A brief history of tape]

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Category:3M brands

Category:Adhesive tape

Category:American inventions

Category:Brands that became generic

Category:Office equipment

Category:Products introduced in 1930