Vesta Stoudt: Inventor

Vesta Stoudt, (born this week on April 13, 1906) was a mother of invention when she came up with the idea for using duct tape during World War II.

In February 1943, Vesta Stoudt was among the six million American women working in factories producing guns, ammunition, tanks, jeeps and other military equipment needed by the Allies fighting in World War II. Stoudt already had a full-time job as a mother of six boys and two girls. But the pay was good, and Stoudt wanted to do her part to support the war effort.

One of the country’s largest munition complexes, the Green River Ordnance Plant, was near Stoudt’s home in Sterling, Illinois. She was hired to inspect and pack cartridges used to launch rifle grenades. After placing 11 cartridges in each box, she would seal the box flaps with paper tape. Next, the entire package was dipped in wax to make it waterproof. One end of the tape would be left loose to act as a pull tab for ripping open the box. But as Stoudt quickly realized, the tape was not sturdy and often tore off without opening the box of ammunition. The weak tape created a dangerous situation for troops in combat when every second counted to load and re-load weapons.

Supporting the war effort was very important to Stoudt. Two of her sons were in the Navy. Clarence, 20, was on active duty in the Atlantic and Lowell, 26, was a construction mechanic serving in the Pacific. Knowing that their lives could be jeopardized due to a packaging flaw only added to her worries.

Stoudt thought, why not use a waterproof tape made with a thin cotton cloth instead of the flimsy paper tape? She reportedly experimented with different fabrics and tapes at home before bringing the idea to her bosses. They told her the solution “was all right” but that’s as far as it went.

Frustrated but determined, Stoudt decided to go over their heads. Way over. On February 10, 1943, she wrote the most important letter of her life to “Mr. President.”

“Dear friend,” she opened, “I hope you will take time to listen to a Navy mother’s problem.” Describing her job at the Green River plant and the issue of the flimsy tape on the boxes, Stoudt added a small sketch to illustrate the problem. She wrote, “Now, your son, my son and our neighbor’s son must pull this tape off some way, perhaps with his teeth or his knife if he is lucky enough to have one, (but) nine chances out of ten, he hasn’t any.”

“I suggested,” she wrote, “we use a strong cloth tape to close seams and make tab of same.  It worked fine, I showed it to different government inspectors they said it was all right, but I could never get them to change tape.”

Appealing to FDR as a parent, she continued: “I have two sons out there somewhere, one in the Pacific Island the other one with the Atlantic Fleet.  You have sons in the service also.  We can’t let them down by giving them a box of cartridges that takes a minute or more to open-- the enemy taking their lives, that could have been saved. Had the box been taped with a strong cloth tape that can be opened in a split second.  I didn’t know who to write to, Mr. President, so I have written you hoping for your boys, my boys, and every man that uses the rifle grenade, that this package of rifle cartridges may be taped with the correct tape.” 

In closing, Stoudt wrote, “please Mr. President, do something about this at once, not tomorrow or soon, but now,” she wrote, underlining the last word.

Six weeks passed. A letter from the War Production Board arrived. “Dear Mrs. Stoudt,” it began “…you will be pleased to hear that we have received word from the Ordnance Department regarding your suggestions for changing the type of tape used in munition packaging…the change you have recommended has been approved with the comment that the idea is of exceptional merit.”

No details exist of how the government was able to quickly adopt Stoudt’s idea, get it into production and begin using the waterproof tape. And, it’s important to note that Stoudt did not actually invent the waterproof tape. She had the genius insight to know that it was the perfect simple fix for a detail that could jeopardize even the best battle plans.

The company that made the original olive-green tape was called Permacel, a subsidiary of Johnson and Johnson. The company was already making adhesive tapes for industrial and medical uses. They called Stoudt’s tape “duck tape” because it was made of a cotton duck fabric sandwiched between a layer of adhesive and a coat of polyethylene that was so effective in keeping things dry that water would bead off it like water off a duck’s back.

Incredibly strong, duck tape was quickly being used for all sorts of military repairs. It was said to be able to hold together a jeep speeding at one hundred miles an hour, hence it became known as “one hundred mile tape” in military slang.

After the war was over, “duck tape” became known as “duct tape” when consumers and other industries started using it. Ironically, because it cannot withstand the high temperatures of ducts, it is not considered a safe for repairing ducts today.

It’s fair to say that no one in the modern world can live without duct tape. Vesta Stoudt, the mother of duct tape, would be astonished at the life her “correct tape” has taken. Duct tape now comes in all colors and patterns. There are clubs of duct tape fans who have created websites, tv shows, blogs, craft projects, books and workshops devoted to all the ways this tape can be used for fun projects and repairs. Duct tape has even gone into space. In 1970, when an oxygen tank on Apollo 13 exploded, the astronauts used duct tape to construct a carbon dioxide filter to help save the crew’s lives. Duct tape came to the rescue again two years later on Apollo 17, when it was used to make a repair on the lunar landing module. After those episodes, NASA added duct tape to their list of required equipment on manned space missions.

One remarkable woman, one compelling letter, one open-minded President helped change a military process that made a simple product an iconic part of modern culture around the world. Bravo Vesta Stoudt!

©2023 Alice Look
Co-founder, Remarkable Women Project.org
Executive Producer, Remarkable Women Project