
The Man Who Invented Scotch Tape - ryan_j_naughton
http://priceonomics.com/the-man-who-invented-scotch-tape/
======
kamaal
>>so he bought the machine in parts in a series ... then constructed it
himself. When Drew’s boss later found out what Drew he’d been up to, he
rewarded him

This is more or less impossible in any organization I know of today. There
might be a few exceptions, but by and large _' Im going to prove them wrong'_
strategy will only attract enemies from the political cartels in middle
management these days. You will be marked as some who frequently indulges in
insubordination, kind of guy who generally unionizes and can become immediate
threat to their own job.

Most managers these days will likely let the company go in loss than have some
one below them look smarter to people above. I even seriously doubt if the 20%
innovation initiatives in Internet companies work anymore.

>>“He didn’t even know exactly what was needed, but he had the optimism of
youth.”

This too is impossible in most places today, even start ups. Which won't hire
you until you know some 100 math theorems by heart or have a degree from Ivy
leagues.

~~~
CurtMonash
Oddly, one place where innovation unquestionably happens is in sales,
especially in the early days of a company. A young company trots out its cute
new puppy, and the field people (CEO or otherwise as the case may be) and the
customers collaborate in making it into a wolf or plowhorse or cheetah or
something else very different from what it started out to be.

See also the much-admired concept of "pivot".

~~~
arethuza
Actually, the need for sales to be flexible and innovative is one of the
reasons customizability is so important for CRM systems.

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arethuza
As a Scot I was interested as to why it was called Scotch tape:

 _The use of the term Scotch in the name was a pejorative meaning "stingy" in
the 1920s and 1930s._

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scotch_Tape](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scotch_Tape)

[NB In the UK the equivalent product is _sellotape_ ].

~~~
timthorn
>In the UK the equivalent product is sellotape

It's true that Sellotape has become the generic name for adhesive tape, but
Scotch tape is a well established product in it's own right in the UK market.

~~~
arethuza
That's true - my favourite kind of sellotape is Scotch Tape! :-)

~~~
smcl
Actually we usually use the word "sellotape" for the clear "Scotch® Brand
Cellulose Tape" they describe in the article, or certainly everyone I know
does. The UK English term for "Scotch Tape" would usually be "masking tape" I
think.

I was also surprised to see they didn't cover why it was called "Scotch" tape
in the article as I find it pretty comical even though I'm also Scottish.

~~~
RobertKerans
Masking tape is the easy-to-remove paper tape you use for decorating, rather
than the clear cellophane stuff.

I've always known Scotch Tape to refer to Scotch Magic Tape, the slightly
opaque, better-quality sellotape, rather than just generic sellotape. More
expensive as well, so I always got told to use it carefully & in moderation
when I was a kid. It has a little tartan-pattern strip of paper at the end of
the roll so you can find it, I never really thought about why it was named
beyond that.

~~~
rm445
The magic tape isn't great for general use. The benefit is that it peels
cleanly, even off paper. It was beloved in drawing offices back when they
worked on paper.

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barking
Sellotape isn't perfected yet

1: the new start point after every dispensing should be easier to get hold of

2: when the tape starts to tear at an angle it can be really difficult to get
back to a full width strip

I wish the skunkworks would focus on these scourges :-)

~~~
r00fus
Easily done:

Perforate on an a regular interval/length - e.g., like paper towel rolls. The
perforation would help resolve both issues.

I assume we haven't seen exactly this because of the edge cases that it brings
up.

~~~
lttlrck
Perforation would most likely increase the chance of tearing very
significantly.

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legulere
> Competing company DuPont had just invented cellophane

This is not true.
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cellophane#History](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cellophane#History)

~~~
johngd
The author may have, mistakenly, attributed a quote as fact from one of the
interviewees.

Interestingly enough, from the same link, Dupont appears to have
invented/optimized a moisture-proof cellulose, which may have been what the
author was referring to?

~~~
unreal37
It's probably fair to say Dupont introduced it into widespread use in the
United States given that they were the first to manufacture it there.

