There is no patent for duct tape. Yet objects do not simply appear out of nowhere. They have histories and their histories have histories. The stories of how they came to be are just as important and arguably as deeply influential as their use. For objects are never simply objects. They are ideas and aspirations, solutions, frustrations, symbols, and placeholders. Though many pressure-sensitive tapes have been created with durability in mind, there is a way in which we understand tape as the expedient, quick fix.
Although adhesives have been around for centuries in one form or another, tape’s story stretches back to at least the 1700s with the “discovery” by the West of rubber and rubber-based adhesives. In 1736, when Charles Marie de la Condamine of France returned home from the New World bearing latex—the milky substance extracted from rubber plants—he set out on a cycle of experimentation and invention that would lead to exponential scientific innovation. By the mid-18th century, improvements in processing such as vulcanization, in which rubber is treated with high heat and sulfur and made more durable, led to the development of everything from waterproof raincoats and revolver hand grips to electric insulation and beauty products.1