Richard Gurley Drew, the man who invented sticky tape - CNET

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The humble roll of Sellotape is a staple in every kitchen's miscellaneous drawer, one of those everyday items we simply take for granted. When you stop to think about it, it's actually rather ingenious.

It took a college dropout to think of it. Richard Gurley Drew, bo in Minnesota on June 22, 1899, took just one year of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Minnesota before dropping out.

At the age of 22, he was hired by a sandpaper manufacturer. In the early 1920s, while testing sandpaper samples at an auto body shop, something sparked his attention. The two-tone paintjobs for cars so popular at the time were a real hassle to execute.

This was because there was no efficient way to get a clean divide between the paint colours. The workers would use butcher's paper stuck to the car with adhesive so strong that it would leave behind a sticky residue. Drew realised a gentler pressure adhesive that still sealed well enough to protect against bleed would be ideal.

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He began experimenting with crepe paper for flexibility, coupled with the adhesive the company used for sandpaper. In 1925, Drew's masking tape, the first paper-backed, pressure adhesive tape, hit the market. This came to be known as Scotch Brand Masking Tape, after a worker at the auto body shop where the tape was tested became frustrated that there was too little adhesive on it.