The Greatest American Invention

September 21, 2024

This is the cooling pack I was talking about here. The spirit of improvising will never fade with the existence of arguably The Greatest American Invention of All Time:

Duct tape.


Me, holding up a drill cooled down with ice, secured with duct tape, the Greatest American Invention of All Time
A close-up of the drill cooled down with ice, secured with duct tape, the Greatest American Invention of All Time

Apollo 13 bodged CO₂ scrubber, made with duct tape, the Greatest American Invention of All Time

Apollo 13 bodged CO₂ scrubber, made with duct tape, the Greatest American Invention of All Time

The scene from Apollo 13 where Mission Control, Houston bodged the CO₂ scrubber with duct tape, the Greatest American Invention of All Time

I suggested 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.

Vesta Stoudt, inventor of duct tape, writing to Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1943[1]

The greatest use of duct tape has to be in fitting a square peg into a round hole on the Apollo 13 mission. May it have infinitely useful uses in many years to come.