Ummmm, that is actually "duck tape".
http://en.m.wikipedia.org?wiki/Duct_tape.
"During World War II, Revolite, then a division of Johnson & Johnson, developed an adhesive tape made from a rubber-based adhesive applied to a durable duck cloth backing. This tape resisted water and was used as sealing tape on ammunition cases during World War II.[1]
History and etymologyEdit
The first material called "duck tape" was long strips of plain cotton duck cloth used in making shoes stronger, for decoration on clothing, and for wrapping steel cables or electrical conductors to protect them from corrosion or wear.[2] For instance, in 1902, steel cables supporting the Brooklyn Bridge were first covered in linseed oil then wrapped in duck tape before being laid in place.[3] In the 1910s, certain boots and shoes used canvas duck fabric for the upper or for the insole, and duck tape was sometimes sewn in for reinforcement.[4] In 1936, the US-based Insulated Power Cables Engineers Association specified a wrapping of duck tape as one of many methods used to protect rubber-insulated power cables.[5] In 1942, Gimbel's department store offered venetian blinds that were held together with vertical strips of duck tape.[6] All of these forgoing uses were for plain cottton or linen tape that came without a layer of applied adhesive.
Adhesive tapes of various sorts were in use by the 1910s, including rolls of cloth tape with adhesive coating one side. White adhesive tape made of cloth soaked in rubber and zinc oxide was used in hospitals to bind wounds, but other tapes such as friction tape or electrical tape could be substituted in an emergency.[7] In 1930, the magazine Popular Mechanics described how to make adhesive tape at home using plain cloth tape soaked in a heated liquid mixture of rosin and rubber from inner tubes.[8]
In 1923, Richard Gurley Drew working for 3M invented masking tape, a paper-based tape with a mildly sticky adhesive. In 1925 this became the Scotch brand masking tape. In 1930, Drew developed a transparent tape based on cellophane, called Scotch Tape. This tape was widely used beginning in the Great Depression to repair household items.[9] Author Scott Berkun has written that duct tape is "arguably" a modification of this early success by 3M.[10] However, neither of Drew's inventions were based on cloth tape.[9]
The Revolite division of Johnson & Johnson made medical adhesive tapes from duck cloth, beginning in 1927. During World War II, a team headed by Revolite's Johnny Denoye and Johnson & Johnson's Bill Gross developed a new adhesive tape for the US military, intended to seal ammunition cases against moisture.[11] The tape was required to be ripped by hand, not cut with scissors. According to Johnson & Johnson, the idea came from an ordnance-factory worker--and mother of two Navy sailors--named Vesta Stoudt, who worried that problems with ammunition-box seals would cost soldiers precious time in battle. She wrote to President Franklin D Roosevelt in 1943 with the idea to seal the boxes with a fabric tape, which she had tested at her factory. The letter was forwarded to the War Production Board, who put Johnson & Johnson on the job.[12] Their new, unnamed product was made of thin cotton duck tape coated in waterproof polyethylene (plastic) with a layer of rubber-based gray adhesive ("Polycoat") bonded to one side.[6][13][14][15][16][17] It was easy to apply and remove, and was soon adapted to repair military equipment quickly, including vehicles and weapons.[13] This tape, colored in army-standard matte olive drab, was nicknamed "duck tape" by the soldiers.[18] Various theories have been put forward for the nickname, including the descendant relation to cotton duck fabric, the waterproof characteristics of a duck bird, and even the 1942 amphibious military vehicle DUKW which was pronounced "duck".[19]"