The Invention of Duck Tape

The story goes that duct tape was invented by a Johnson & Johnson operating company in response to a request from the U.S. military for a cloth-based, waterproof tape during World War II. But have you ever wondered why the Army made that request, and who had the original idea for duct tape? Well, wonder no more, Kari Santo, whose great grandmother Vesta Stoudt had the idea that led to duct tape.

In the 1940s, Vesta Stoudt, a mother with two sons serving in the Navy, went to work in the Green River Ordnance Plant between Dixon and Amboy, Illinois to do her part to help her sons and their fellow servicemen. So Vesta got a job at Green River inspecting and packing cartridges used to launch rifle grenades that were used by soldiers in the Army and Navy. The cartridges were packed eleven to a box, and the boxes were taped and waxed to make them waterproof and damp-proof. The box flaps were sealed with thin paper tape, and a tab of tape was left loose so that it could be pulled to release the waterproof wax coating and open the box. The problem was that the thin paper tape wasn’t strong enough, and the tabs frequently tore off when soldiers pulled on them to open the ammo boxes, leaving them frantically scrambling to claw the boxes open while under enemy fire. Lives were at risk –including the lives of her sons. So Vesta Stoudt came up with a solution: seal the boxes with a strong, cloth-based waterproof tape instead of the thin paper tape. Vesta raised the issue with her supervisors but, although they thought it was a good idea, she wasn’t getting anywhere with having it implemented. So Vesta Stoudt did what any other mom with two sons in the Navy would do: she wrote a letter to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt outlining the issue and telling him her idea about how to fix it.

“I suggested we use a strong cloth tape to close seams, and make tab of same. It worked fine, I showed it to different government inspectors they said it was all right, but I could never get them to change tape. I have two sons out there some where, one in the Pacific Island the other one with the Atlantic Fleet. You have sons in the service also. We can’t let them down by giving them a box of cartridges that takes a minute or more to open, the enemy taking their lives, that could have been saved. Had the box been taped with a strong cloth tape that can be opened in a split second. I didn’t know who to write to Mr. President, so have written you hoping for your boys, my boys, and every man that uses the rifle grenade, that this package of rifle cartridges may be taped with the correct tape.” [from a Copy of original letter from Vesta Stoudt to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Feb. 10, 1943, courtesy of Kari Santo]

Roosevelt sent Vesta’s letter to the War Production Board in Washington, D.C., and just a few weeks later in March, she received a series of replies from higher-ups in the organization saying that her idea would be considered; that it was being forwarded to the appropriate division and they hoped she would send them any other ideas she had in the future; and finally that her recommendation for the new tape had been approved and was “of exceptional merit.”

Because of Johnson & Johnson’s long experience making surgical adhesive tapes, the War Production Board asked Johnson & Johnson to make the tape, which was named “Duck Tape” because, as the story goes, it was 1) waterproof, like a duck and 2) it was made with cotton duck fabric. The tape soon became known as “100 Mile an Hour Tape” in the military and, because it was strong and waterproof, soldiers used it to repair just about everything. Vesta Stoudt received a letter from President Roosevelt and earned the Chicago Tribune’s War Worker Award for her idea and her persistence.

Content for this page is from Kilmer House website.