Sellotape () is a British brand of transparent,

polypropylene Polypropylene (PP), also known as polypropene, is a thermoplastic polymer used in a wide variety of applications. It is produced via chain-growth polymerization from the monomer propylene. Polypropylene belongs to the group of polyolefins a ...

-based,

pressure-sensitive tape Pressure-sensitive tape, known also in various countries as PSA tape, adhesive tape, self-stick tape, sticky tape, Sellotape, or just tape, is an adhesive tape that will stick with application of pressure, without the need for a solvent (such as ...

, and is the leading brand in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

. Sellotape is generally used for joining, sealing, attaching and mending. In much the same way that Scotch Tape came to be used in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...

and the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

when referring to any brand of clear adhesive tape, Sellotape has become a genericised trademark in Britain and a number of other countries where it is sold. Sellotape continued to be made in Borehamwood until the late 1960s/early 1970s.

History

Sellotape was originally manufactured in 1937 by Colin Kinninmonth and George Grey, in Acton, west London. The name was derived from ''

cellophane Cellophane is a thin, transparent sheet made of regenerated cellulose. Its low permeability to air, oils, greases, bacteria, and liquid water makes it useful for food packaging. Cellophane is highly permeable to water vapour, but may be coated ...

'', at that time a trademarked name, with the "C" changed to "S" so the new name could be trademarked. Sellotape was made at a factory in

Borehamwood Borehamwood (, historically also Boreham Wood) is a town in southern Hertfordshire, England, from Charing Cross. Borehamwood has a population of 31,074, and is within the London commuter belt. The town's film and TV studios are commonly know ...

, Hertfordshire, from 1930 to about 1950 when it moved to Welwyn Garden City or thereabouts. One of the factory designers was E.F. Peat, an architect working for E.S. & A. Robinson of Redcliffe Street in Bristol, who was ultimately given the job of factory manager. The range of tapes available in the 1950s and 1960s was immense compared with what is available now on the retail market, including RBT (reinforced banding tape), metallic tapes and a tape used for repairing PCBs; E.S. & A. Robinson were originally a packaging and paper products manufacturing company. In the 1960s, a small group of Wallington based chemists led by a man named Alan Robinson undertook a development of the stickiness in this product, and from the 1960s to 1980s, the Sellotape company was part of

Dickinson Robinson Group The Dickinson Robinson Group, or DRG, was a listed British paper, printing and packaging company founded in 1966 as a result of a merger of John Dickinson Stationery Ltd and E. S. & A. Robinson Ltd, creating one of the world's largest stationery an ...

, a British packaging and paper conglomerate. Sellotape Industrial was bought by Scapa Group plc in 1997, and their products continue to be manufactured at its factory in

Dunstable Dunstable ( ) is a market town and civil parish in Bedfordshire, England, east of the Chiltern Hills, north of London. There are several steep chalk escarpments, most noticeable when approaching Dunstable from the north. Dunstable is t ...

. The Sellotape company was bought by

Henkel AG & Co. KGaA, commonly known as Henkel, is a German multinational chemical and consumer goods company headquartered in Düsseldorf, Germany. It is active in both the consumer and industrial sectors. Founded in 1876, the DAX company is organ ...

Consumer Adhesives in 2002.

Products

The Sellotape brand now covers a variety of tape products, and the word is frequently used to refer to other adhesive tapes in many countries due to its market exposure. As an example of a

genericized trademark A generic trademark, also known as a genericized trademark or proprietary eponym, is a trademark or brand name that, because of its popularity or significance, has become the generic term for, or synonymous with, a general class of products ...

, it gained an entry in the

Oxford English Dictionary The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the first and foundational historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP). It traces the historical development of the English language, providing a c ...

in 1980.

Use

The tape can be used to repair tears in paper, or to attach pieces of paper or cardboard together for modelling. On fragile paper surfaces the tape can only be used once, as removing it will either tear the paper or remove the top layer of rough cardboard; on smooth painted surfaces it can generally be removed without leaving any trace, though sometimes the adhesive can remain on the surface after prolonged periods of time. It does not affix items to such surfaces permanently.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Official website
Adhesive tape Office equipment Henkel brands British brands British inventions Manufacturing companies of the United Kingdom Companies based in Cheshire es:Celo adhesivo

History

Products

Use

See also

References

External links