Pressure sensitive adhesives are the proverbial glue that holds tapes together and gives them their sticking power. These pressure-sensitive tapes (or, more simply, tapes) find their way into a myriad of applications used by the consumer, contractor and assembly-line worker alike. Applications include:
Consumer (such as 3M Scotch brand cellophane tape) Electrical/Electronic (think black electrical tape)
General Industrial
Masking/Protective (from the omnipresent beige-colored masking tape to others)
Packaging
Surgical/Medical/First Aid
Tapes to the Rescue!
The uses people come up with are as original as they are effective when it comes to adapting adhesive tape to their own needs. Cat and dog owners, who fight a daily battle to remove the hairs of their four-legged friends from pullovers, trousers and sofas, have come to love all types of strong, wide adhesive tape, which are ten times more effective than any regular clothes-brush. Hair, crumbs, fluff and dust are grabbed by the sticky side.
Even photographers and the fashion industry have long since discovered the usefulness of adhesive tape. The fact that the clothes in glossy magazines, advertisements and catalogs always look as if they fit the models like a glove, is not only down to their great figures, but also to the clever use of adhesive tape. Anything sticking up or out won’t be sewn, but simply stuck down. And anyone who has worn a backless evening gown knows the true value of strong tape. Even Sophia Loren and Gina Lollobrigida Parker used tape to give themselves deep décolleté without the need for unsightly brastraps.
Photographers too make unwanted chubby rolls and wrinkles disappear just by using tape. Problem areas are simply pulled smooth and stuck down. And just by the way, even gangsters in action films are glad to have their trusty adhesive tape along. When the bad guy wants to lock his captive away in the cellar quietly, it isn’t the revolver that is his best friend; it’s the strong adhesive tape that makes sure that the captive keeps his mouth shut and draws a gasp when he rips it off again.