70TH ANNIVERSARY OF SCOTCH TAPE

70TH ANNIVERSARY OF SCOTCH TAPE

ST. PAUL, Minn. (Wireless Flash) -- Tomorrow (May 27) is a date that sticks out in the history books: it's the 70th anniversary of the day Scotch Tape was patented. The office staple was created by a 3M engineer named Richard Drew, who invented the waterproof tape to solve the problem of sealing insulation in refrigerated railroad cars. Scotch Tape has been used for much more unusual tasks since then, including repairing airplane rudders, sealing cracks in apartment ceilings and attaching labels to horses at auctions. And, just in case you're wondering, the tape derived its name from a disgruntled painter who tried a prototype of the tape and told the inventor to "Take this tape back to those Scotch bosses of yours and tell them to put more adhesive on it."