7 ms·

The Man Who Invented Scotch Tape

kamaal 12y ago
>>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.
- jessekiddd 12y ago
  That's why few companies who make differences make history and most are forgotten.
- CurtMonash 12y ago
  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 12y ago
    Actually, the need for sales to be flexible and innovative is one of the reasons customizability is so important for CRM systems.
- unreal37 12y ago
  I bet things haven't changed as much as you think. It was probably pretty rare back then to find the right person working for the right boss. And it's equally rare today. And I would disagree with the second point. I've hired a few guys right out of school with no experience, but I recognized they had the right attitude. It's about 50% effective, but when it works out, it's great.
- cpwright 12y ago
  This kind of stuff still happens. When I was employed by a university; capital purchases had a lower overhead rate than regular expenses. We didn't buy 5 workstations, we bought a five system "cluster". When I was employed at IBM, we were under expense controls, so anything over $250 needed to be approved by the Research division comptroller. Instead of purchasing a PC, PC parts were purchased and assembled.
arethuza 12y ago
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 12y ago
  >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 12y ago
    That's true - my favourite kind of sellotape is Scotch Tape! :-)
    - smcl 12y ago
      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.
      - popopje 12y ago
        Similarly the danish budget supermarket Netto uses a scottie dog as their logo
      - RobertKerans 12y ago
        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.
legulere 12y ago
> 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 12y ago
  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 12y ago
    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.
barking 12y ago
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 12y ago
  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 12y ago
    Perforation would most likely increase the chance of tearing very significantly.

>>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.

jessekiddd 12y ago
That's why few companies who make differences make history and most are forgotten.
CurtMonash 12y ago
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 12y ago
  Actually, the need for sales to be flexible and innovative is one of the reasons customizability is so important for CRM systems.
unreal37 12y ago
I bet things haven't changed as much as you think. It was probably pretty rare back then to find the right person working for the right boss. And it's equally rare today. And I would disagree with the second point. I've hired a few guys right out of school with no experience, but I recognized they had the right attitude. It's about 50% effective, but when it works out, it's great.
cpwright 12y ago
This kind of stuff still happens. When I was employed by a university; capital purchases had a lower overhead rate than regular expenses. We didn't buy 5 workstations, we bought a five system "cluster". When I was employed at IBM, we were under expense controls, so anything over $250 needed to be approved by the Research division comptroller. Instead of purchasing a PC, PC parts were purchased and assembled.

arethuza 12y ago

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 12y ago
>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 12y ago
  That's true - my favourite kind of sellotape is Scotch Tape! :-)
  - smcl 12y ago
    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.
    - popopje 12y ago
      Similarly the danish budget supermarket Netto uses a scottie dog as their logo
    - RobertKerans 12y ago
      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.

legulere 12y ago

> 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 12y ago
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 12y ago
  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.

barking 12y ago

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 12y ago
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 12y ago
  Perforation would most likely increase the chance of tearing very significantly.