In 1930, an American lab technician invented a transparent adhesive tape revolutionizing the whole industry by creating a modern and commercially successful product: How Richard Drew changed the world?

In 1930, an American lab technician invented a transparent adhesive tape that became one of the products associated with everyday repairs. Richard Gurley Drew, an engineer and inventor at Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company, known as 3M, developed transparent cellophane tape after working on masking tape for automobile painters. His work produced the first modern pressure-sensitive tapes. Drew had joined 3M in 1921 as a lab technician after leaving the University of Minnesota. He spent his career working on products and received 30 U.S. patents. His inventions also influenced the way 3M approached research and product development.

How Richard Drew began working with tape?

Richard Gurley Drew was born on June 22, 1899, in St. Paul, Minnesota. He attended the University of Minnesota and studied engineering. At the same time, he played the banjo in dance orchestras to pay for his education. Drew found the schedule difficult and left the university after three semesters. He continued playing the banjo while studying machine design through a correspondence course.


His career changed in 1921 when 3M was expanding its research laboratory. William Vievering, the company's first quality-assurance expert, placed an advertisement seeking an assistant for the laboratory.

Drew applied for the position. He said he was willing to start at a salary the company considered suitable because he needed practical experience. He was hired as a lab technician and remained with 3M throughout his career.

The problem that led to masking tape

One of Drew's early assignments involved testing sandpaper. He delivered trial batches to an automobile body shop. While visiting the shop, he noticed a problem. Painters were using masking materials to separate sections of cars before applying different paint colors. The paint often peeled when the masking material was removed.

Drew began working on a solution. He developed a tape using cabinetmaker's glue and treated crepe paper. The material could remain on the car during painting and could then be removed without taking the paint from the surface.

Automobile manufacturers and body shops began ordering the tape. The product was marketed as Scotch masking tape in 1925. The invention helped automobile painters create two-tone paint designs. The tape remained in place during the painting process and could be removed after the paint dried.

In 1930, an American lab technician invented a transparent adhesive tape

Five years after developing masking tape, Drew worked on another tape product. In 1930, he developed transparent cellophane tape. The product was waterproof, transparent and pressure-sensitive. It could also act as a barrier against moisture. The invention became known as Scotch tape.

The product was introduced at a time when the United States was entering the Great Depression. Its uses made it a household product because people could repair damaged items instead of replacing them.

People used transparent adhesive tape to repair:

• Torn pages in books
• Window shades
• ToysClothing
• Paper products
• Other household items
• Paper currency

The tape gave consumers a way to repair damaged objects with a small amount of material.

How Scotch tape got its name?

The name Scotch tape is linked to an incident involving Drew's earlier masking tape. One sample of the masking tape had adhesive only along its outer edges. The tape failed to stay on a car during testing. An automobile painter became frustrated and told Drew to take the tape back to his “Scotch” bosses and ask them to add more adhesive.

At the time, “Scotch” was being used as a term for someone considered cheap. The name later became associated with 3M's tape products. The transparent pressure-sensitive tape Drew developed afterward became commercially successful and was used for many types of repairs.

Drew's work at 3M

Drew worked at 3M from 1921 until his retirement in 1962. During his career, he received 30 U.S. patents. His work went beyond adhesive tape. He became involved in research and helped establish a system that allowed engineers to explore product ideas.

In 1943, Drew established the Products Fabrication Laboratory and became its director. The facility was later known as the 3M Corporate Research Laboratory. Over the next two decades, the laboratory worked on products including reflective sheeting for traffic signs and breathable surgical tapes. Experiments carried out at the laboratory also contributed to work that eventually led to the development of the Post-it note decades later.

How Drew influenced 3M's work culture?

Drew also influenced how 3M approached research. He was one of three employees hired in 1921 who became part of an early group of independent thinkers at the company. Richard Carlton and Francis Okie were the other two. Drew encouraged engineers to explore ideas and work on problems beyond their assigned duties.

One example involved his work on masking tape. William L. McKnight, who was president of 3M, had instructed Drew to stop working on the tape project and return to the company's sandpaper work. Drew continued developing the tape.

He also kept individual purchase orders below $100 because larger purchases required management approval. He used several $99 purchase orders while continuing his work. The project eventually succeeded. McKnight then recognized the value of allowing employees to explore ideas.

This approach later became associated with 3M's 15 percent rule. Under the policy, employees were encouraged to spend part of their working time on projects of their own choosing. The approach influenced research and development practices at 3M and was followed in different forms by other companies.

Drew's advice to engineers

Drew also mentored younger engineers and inventors at 3M. Paul Hansen, who later worked as a technical director at 3M, said Drew taught him a series of principles about invention and work.

These included:

• Work on an idea before it is perfect.
• Develop broad skills while building expertise in one area.
• Reduce a problem to its basic point.
• Look at the wider situation.
• Ask questions and take initiative.
• Use experience when making decisions.
• Look for opportunities while working toward goals.
• Continue working when an idea does not succeed immediately.
• Find satisfaction in the effort as well as the final product.

These ideas became part of Drew's contribution to the company's approach to invention.

The growth of pressure-sensitive tape

Drew's masking tape and transparent adhesive tape became the starting point for a wider group of pressure-sensitive products. The inventions eventually contributed to a family of more than 900 pressure-sensitive tapes used around the world.

These tapes are used in:

• Offices
• Homes
• Medical applications
• Electrical work
• Construction
• Manufacturing
• Other industries

By 2007, products connected to Drew's work had developed into a large business for 3M. It remains a major manufacturer of pressure-sensitive tapes.

The role of tape during the Great Depression

The transparent tape also had a role during the Great Depression. Many households faced financial pressure during the period. Repairing an item could cost less than buying a replacement.

Transparent cellophane tape provided a way to repair everyday objects. People used it on books, toys, clothing, window shades and other items. This gave the product uses beyond offices and industrial settings. The tape became part of household repair practices and helped establish transparent adhesive tape as a consumer product.

Recognition for Richard Drew

Drew received recognition for his inventions and contribution to product development. He was inducted into the Minnesota Inventors Hall of Fame in 1978. In 2007, he was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.

Drew died on December 14, 1980, in Santa Barbara, California. He was 81 years old. His primary field was household products, while his primary inventions included Scotch tape and masking tape.

The scale of Scotch tape

The use of Scotch tape continued long after Drew's retirement and death. More than 4.1 million miles of Scotch tape are sold every year, according to information about Drew's invention. That amount is enough to circle Earth about 165 times. The figure shows how a product created to solve a specific problem for automobile painters became part of household, office and industrial use.

Why Richard Drew's invention matters?

Richard Drew's work changed more than the tape industry. His masking tape solved a problem in automobile painting. His transparent cellophane tape then created a product for household and commercial repairs. The products also demonstrated how research could turn a small workplace problem into a product with uses across different industries.

Drew's influence at 3M also became part of the company's approach to innovation. His work helped support an environment where employees could explore ideas and test products. The pressure-sensitive tape industry that followed includes hundreds of products used for different purposes. Drew's career therefore connects an automobile painting problem in the 1920s with a global tape industry that developed over the following decades.