Consumer Reports: Perfect Painter's Tape By Consumer Reports • Published January 31, 2013 • Updated on July 12, 2013 at 3:25 pm ...

A 3M employee, Richard Drew, invented masking tape in 1925. He saw that when autoworkers would mask and paint car bodies, they often lifted specks of paint when they pulled off the tape.

Scotch ® Tape Timeline. 1921: Sandpaper manufacturer 3M hires Richard Drew as lab assistant. 1925: Drew invents Scotch ® Masking Tape, the predecessor to transparent tape. This marks 3M's entry into ...