Actually...The tape in question was originally called "duck tape" because the fabric portion of it was a specific weave of cotton called "cotton duck".
Thank you for providing me my daily opportunity to wave my pedantic flag.
I'll wave mine as well.....
When was duct tape invented?
The origins of duct tape are not as certain as one might think. During the 10s, there was a product similar to duct tape that was used to reinforce objects, and it probably was what we can call the "ancestor" of the duct tape we know today.
But the true adhesive tape we currently use was probably born around the age of World War II. As we're going to see in this article, the history of duct tape is filled with misconceptions, misspellings, and several end-uses which contributed to creating confusion about its name.
The early history of duct tape
That product was made of a thin stripe of duck fabric, with a plastic coat and a layer of rubber-based adhesive. It was used as a reinforcement for many objects, such as shoes and boots, power cables, and window blinds.
During the war, the history of duct tape was confined to the emergency repair of military tools and vehicles, and we had to wait until the end of the conflict to see the product spread out on the market for home applications.
After WW2, misconceptions about the origins of duct tape started spreading, specifically because there were two dissimilar products that had similar names: duck tape and duct tape.
“Duck tape” or “duct tape”? How did it get its name?
It is a common belief that duct tape, in the years of its early history, used to be called “duck tape”, probably referring to the name of its fabric or to its resistance to water, just like a duck bird. The name was said to have been given by its inventor, and only later (after World War II) it was changed to duct tape.
However, according to research, there is no reference to the name “duck tape” in any document of that time. During the War, the tape simply had no specific name.
In fact, duck tape most likely referred to something that was not adhesive at all: tape was simply used as a synonym for fabric stripe, while duck referred to the type of cloth.
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