"We’ve found that duct tape is not a perfect solution for anything. But with a little creativity, in a pinch, it’s an adequate solution for just about everything." -Jamie Hyneman, _Mythbusters_
The Jerry can seems like such a simple invention I had always assumed they were around during the First World War. I'm completely surprised it took until 1937.
Getting the interior coating uniform reliably was a bit more of a challenge than most folks realize. Plastic was a very new substance, as were methods of application. Very clever fellows, those Germans, luckily, they were stuck on overly complex too.
In the first world war, horses were still very much a thing. Mechanization was still in it's infancy. Thar being said, WWII was only about two more decades away.
My dad always said 100mph tape was different than duct tape, we had both at home (dad brought some back from Vietnam) he said you could patch bullet holes in airplanes with it and it'd work just fine. Thus the name.
He may have been right. There's special airline "duct tape" that goes on engines and rivets and such - small stuff that needs to be flat for aerodynamics, but does not pose a safety risk. However, it is insanely expensive, and very different from hardware store duct tape. It has to function in a wide range of temperatures, and stand up to the air speeds and potential precipitation of whatever kind, after all.... m.th-cam.com/video/mG6gHpP6r1o/w-d-xo.html
When I worked with aircraft mechanics the silvery tape used to patch holes in aircraft skins was called Speed Tape. In filmmaking we use what is called Gaffer Tape, which is distinct from Duct tape as a real cloth tape. The adhesive is strong but less likely to pull the paint off a wall. Duct tape is meant for uses around water. I prefer Gaffer tape myself. I have used it to make a bandage. For bandages it works better than Duct tape.
In my Australian military career, naming had devolved into.. "Duct" tape, a plastic, grey/silver tape used for fixing/holding ducting, and anything requiring a decent relatively long lasting water tight seal. Great for sealing, not so good in under a tensile stress. And pretty useless at holding fabric together. "110 mph" tape name centered around the fabric tape easily torn into strips (across the roll and along it's length) which was super flexible and perfect for temporarily fixing tears in canvas and similar (i.e truck tarps, tentage, clothing etc) not so good on ducting/pipes etc. Often black, but available in almost any colour. Wasn't as long lasting (esp in Australian outback heat) but incredibly good under tensile loads. It got it's nickname from the ability to hold up at speed on military vehicle canvas tarps
@@iffracem that sure sounds like what dad brought back from Vietnam. Sure dried out quick, but it seemed like it was immensely strong. Dad said they'd patch all the holes in the hueys with it and send em back out
@Jonathan Marbut Duct tape, the postwar commercial product is made of a different kind of cloth, with a less aggressive adhesive (cheaper) than the military commissioned tape produced during the war and after. Modern "100mph" tape is made without cloth and is instead made from aluminum and alloys pressed to high grade adhesive.
I used it in the 80s as an HVAC installer. Turns out it was a bad idea and is no longer allowed by code. With time, it becomes crispy, it loses its pliablity. The heat of hot ducts and hot attics can turn it into junk within months. Today there's heat resistant duct or "duck" tape, but code in most places call for aluminum tape.
@@aredditor4272 Yeah, there is almost always a more specialised tape that will do what duct/duck tape does but better, and ironically enough ducting is probably the worst use case for it period. It's still a glorious general purpose tape though.
The complete tool kit always contains two items: duct tape and WD40. If it is moving and shouldn't be, use duct tape. If it is supposed to move, but won't, apply WD40.
I served in the Royal Canadian Navy for 24 years as a Naval Weapon Technician. We called it "Gun Tape" as we installed a plastic bag secured by the tape over the muzzle to protect it from the north Atlantic sea sprays... very useful
I'm curious - if you went into combat would you try to take the plastic bag off first, or just rely on the first shot fired to blow it apart? Obviously a plastic bag is not going to stop a naval shell, but scraping the burnt remains off the gun barrel afterwards sounds like a potentially unnecessary inconvenience.
@@imperium3556 we always did pre-firing checks and post firing routines after every shoot. Operational priorities will dictates when we did those... even at 3 or 4 AM...lol
My dad served in the Western Desert and he said that the"flimsy" was univeraslly hated. As a man workingin vehicle recovery on the battlefield he was able to salvage Jerry Cans , which were much better, and he was both surprised and relieved when the British Army adopted them. (How about something on battlefield recovery, and both sides using each others' vehicles, plus the shipment of american trucks to Russiavia Egypt and Persia, which my dad was also involved in?)
The flimsy was so bad that the British reported breakages of flimsy's, due to bad packaging designs, on the way to France where they pre positioned them before the war.
having been inspired to read a boot about Stalingrad.... when it was possible both sides would take from all the dead bodies, any side, the best thing to find was FOOD. German soldiers knew what Russian bread tasted like, and complained but were so happy to get food. Also they would often take back German rations that had been taken by Russians from German bodies. Food is important...
In my entire family, my 83 yr old dad is the original proponent of SPAM. He did live through the Japanese occupation and subsequent liberation by the US (here in the Philippines), so it makes a ton of sense why he likes it so much.
It's very popular in a lot of Pacific island nations to this day; which makes sense thanks to the difficulties with food storage in tropical environments coupled with the difficulties of transportation. I spent a week in Panngi Village on Pentecost Island in Vanuatu with a youth group. We were served SPAM every lunchtime, and honestly it was quite tasty the way they prepared it with noodles. The local produce beat it out, of course, but as far as tinned meat goes it was great.
@@CannibaLouiST yeah, only in our family though. My mom used to tell me stories of my dad bringing a few cans home for my younger cousins to try. It's a much saltier compared to our local luncheon meats so it was only me, my brother and him that really liked it.
This Time Ghost bunch is certainly a very professional group. They did an entire segment on Spam without referring to a certain Monty Python skit AT ALL! . I doff my hat in salute to you.
In Sweden, we call it Silvertejp = silver tape as the most common iteration has the same silvery colour as tin air ducts and heat duct insulation covers.
Duct tape: the embodiment of "nothing is more permanent than a temporary solution" Also it's hard a imagine humanity actually managed to last till 1940s without it
@@lobsterbark Yup, Bailing twine was my go-to for just about everything as a kid. the most Impressive I think was a 2 room tree fort, most intricate was a Bird cage.
"in war people don't care too much about patents" Sometimes it still does. IIRC during WW1, Springfield Armoury kept paying Mauser for patents about their bolt-action rifle (the Springfield 1903 had taken some mechanism from Mauser models), even when the USA was at war with Germany.
Also, the first thing the CocaCola company in Germany did when the war ended, is go to the US and present the results of the sales of FANTA. Read the book by Mark Pendergrast, highly recommended.
I wouldn't be surprised if they were paying into an Escrow account, but I would be surprised if there was not some language that prevented the Germans from collecting a single cent of that money until after the war was over.
Probably better to say that some people don’t care about applying for or enforcing a patent. There’s also a provision in patent law for the government to revoke/seize a patent unilaterally, sometimes making the IP an official secret. The government can’t do it willy nilly; the purpose must be for national security. An engineering company developed a submarine screw (propellor) with a very low sonic signature. The patent application and the design it contained was made top secret. It’s unknown if the company was paid anything or if the government used their design. It’s also possible that the design was too close to another design on which the Navy was working. The U.S. government might made the Covid vaccines public domain, but didn’t. First, you have to believe that the Coronavirus is a national security threat rather than just a health threat. This could be argued either way. Second, you’d need to weigh potential good against longer term potential bad-you don’t want your Pharma companies to stop developing vaccines for future viruses, and they might not want to invest money if there is no return. Third, is that of course there are lobbyists that would oppose this. (I don’t think the third reason is the primary reason.)
Being a veteran of the Pacific Theater in WW2, my grandfather always referred to Spam coming in such flavors as "shoe leather", "(un)spiced dirt", and "latrine filler". At least once called it "the worst weapon inflicted on the men besides malaria and the Arasaka while we were there."
For the British, Germans were called "Jerry," while to the Germans, the British were called "Tommy." One wonders whether this was the inspiration for the cartoon's name "Tom & Jerry." I don't know, just throwing that out there.
The name Jerry probably has nothing to do with Germans. Tom and Jerry were used as cartoon character names (for a pair of drinking inept gamblers) by Joseph Barbera when he was working at Van Beuren Studios in a series running from 1931 to 1933. It is thought the names came from name of the Christmastime eggnog variant (it also has rum in it) which was created by an English writer to publicise his play about two gadabouts who spent a lot of time in socialising and drinking. Barbera then moved to MGM and instigated a cat and mouse cartoon idea. The names were suggested by animator John Carr in a 1941 competition run within the studio. He might have deliberately been re-using the names for the protagonists from the earlier cartoon series in the hopes that they would find favour with Barbera, basing his concept upon the fact that a male cat is called a tom and so Tom has also commonly been used for a male cat. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_and_Jerry_(Van_Beuren)
Your video clip of a soldier emptying a can of 'spam' on a plate (5:42) is actually a can of corned beef which you can tell by the shape of the can and the non-smooth texture. Love everything you guys do. Thank you.
Little story about RG. My son was about 5 years old and I’d let him stay up late to watch RG on PBS. He LOVED RG. We’d buy him rolls of duck tape for his birthday. One day he looked at me and asked if RG was real. I told him it’s just a character on the show. He said “he’s been lying to me”. He was so upset. The next day he boxed up his RG paraphernalia, including an autographed photo, and put it all away. Never watched RG again. My Saturday nites were never the same without him laughing beside me.
Red Green was leaving a marina after getting repairs to his boat. Every employee and boat owner saluted as he went by. Every one of them had a roll of duck tape in hand.
Wasn't expecting this, I had made a comment a few weeks back on the invention of duct tape in one of the weekly episodes. Nice to see it come to fruition as a Special!
Duck. Really! I didn’t believe it at first, either. There’s a heavy waterproof cloth called “duck”, similar to denim (but not denim) that was used in the original tape.
Your photo of the LRDG Jeep with a US spec Jerrycan is in fact of "L" Detachment SAS just after returning from a raid in 1942. The unseen man in the duffel coat is David Stirling, founding CO of the SAS.
"BULLY BEEF"! Havent heard the term since growing up in Jamaica. Spam and Bully beef were staples for us since we were a British colony. Thanks for the nostalgia!
My Grandfather was an RAAF mechanic, serving in Darwin and around the pacific, and had a stash of 6 inch wide rolls of '100 mile an hour' tape. this stuff was scary strong, both the adhesive and the tape. however, he claimed it was mainly used to patch over bullet holes and other minor damage. it wouldn't hold up in rough, highspeed conditions, but enough to get the plane limping back to an airfield with enough of a workshop to get a proper fix done. I was a little bit dubious, but have since learnt how many seaplanes (and his expertise was Catalinas) were flying reconnaissance and search and rescue, and had stashes of fuel and spotters on hundreds of islands and bays. you might take a hit from AA, land in a known safe harbour for a quick bodge job, and carry on back to a proper air base. I remember being extremely sad when I used the last piece, he had long since passed. It had a very distinct smell, surely wouldn't be legal to make it today judging on the chemical reek.
Duck tape - in Finnish officially 'ilmastointiteippi' (ducting tape) is often known as 'jesari' - from 'Jeesusteippi' (Jesus tape - because you can do miracles with it)
When the WWII invention of duct/duck tape was combined with the Cold War invention of WD40 (invented for the aerospace industry), the universal, all-purpose tool kit was finally available. If it's moving, and it's not supposed to, use the duct tape. If it's not moving, and it _is_ supposed to, use the WD40. As for the Spam... A neighbor of mine, when I was a kid, had been a veteran of the Pacific war, and he'd be ready to vomit at almost the mere mention of Spam. The U.S. military bought mountains of the stuff during the war, and as noted here, it wasn't always Hormel's actual Spam, but often other meat products, made by other companies, that the soldiers, sailors, and marines nonetheless knew only as Spam. Served a steady diet of this, throughout the war, this old veteran, after the conflict ended, wouldn't eat Spam if you put a gun to his head. It is funny how Spam caught on in the rest of the world though. It did catch on well in Hawaii as well, and I saw a lot of it when I was stationed at Schofield Barracks in the late '90s.
I was a soldier in the US Army in the 70's. When you started the video with duck tape I thought of how we referred to it as hundred mile an hour tape, back when I was young and subject to the whims of a sergeant, and you dropped this factoid as you closed the segment. Later you talk of jerry cans. I know what jerry cans are, way back when, I used them for both water and diesel. I had no idea of their origin or what the name referred too. That is why I love this show, I get to learn new trivia and feel smug that I know an inside bit of information. All in the same episode!
To this day, Spam is a daily commodity in Korea after they were introduced to it in the 50s. It's routinely given in very fancy boxes for gifts, especially around Korean Thanksgiving and Lunar New Year.
Another thing about the three handles on the Jerry cans is that it allows two people to carry a full can between each other, grabbing one outer handle each, sharing the load. So you can essentially create a chain of people carrying a bunch of cans. (About 10kg per arm instead of 20. Which, if you're carrying them around in a Desert for example while being low on food and water, drained of energy, is pretty beneficial).
Duck/Duct tape was indeed used for many years to seal HVAC ducts----my Dad was a HVAC mechanic and always had a supply handy. In high school (early 60's) I remember him duct taping the index fingers of 2 of my buddies together and challenging them to break loose. Hilarity ensued. But, sadly, the original duct tape had a Achille's heel: over time (years), the heat from the ducts destroyed the tape. Today, tape is still used, but specially designed not to dry out.
There is still cheap low quality duck tape that dries out, leaves a sticky residue, while also not being quite as waterproof as advertised. I myself prefer a good quality gaffers tape, although that will unstick under very hot conditions and doesn’t adhere as well on wet surfaces (or greasy ones). The good kind leaves very little residue but is quite sticky. I’ve caused concrete spalling ripping it off walls (admittedly the concrete was not in good condition, but it wasn’t crumbling, either). The backing is cloth rather than vinyl. It allows ripping in two directions without deformation of the tape. It comes in a rainbow of colors, but standard is black or grey. I find the 2” most useful, but it’s available in 1” and 3” as well (probably 4”, but I don’t remember if I’ve seen it). Goes for $12-15/roll (and I forget how many yards, but it’s a lot. I once did an emergency repair on my car with gaffers tape, baling wire, and chewing gum. It sounds like a joke, but I managed to drive the car 2 miles to my garage. A set screw had fallen out, and I used the wire and gum as a temporary set screw, with tape and more wire to hold it in place. Good times! That was the $400 car that taught me that I want a job that pays enough to hire a mechanic when I need one. Just because you can do it yourself doesn’t mean you want to.
Gerry can features not mentioned: The bump at top rear is for gasoline expansion when the can gets hot. Prior rectangular cans would burst their seams in the hit desert sun. The 3 handles were so one person could grab the center handle or two people could each grab an outboard handle. The Gerry can had a built in filler spout. The closure had a hermetic seal with a lever system that prevented high internal pressure from opening the can. Prior twist on caps would work loose when internal pressure was high
When I was very young back in the 60s my parents took me on a trip to visit a friend of the family, I was told he's been in the war and he wasn't quite right mentally , we arrived in the middle of nowhere on the edge of a wood and there was a small hut surrounded by what seemed like an entire years production of SPAM cans, It seemed that having devolved a taste for it when serving he then ate nothing else . Poor Soul - excellent video as ever
I've only ever known it to be called duck tape. and mostly only seen in the movies. Isn't a product I usually see available. For holding things together here, in our family we usually just use insulation tape as the american's mostly call it, we call it electrical tape. The cheap stuff is plain junk. The expensive stuff is a wonder. I've taped my Licence plate on the back of my bike back on till I could get home to fix it. I've known others to tie thier broken shoe together till they could get home and put on other shoes. Which was a few days later. I've even used it to make traps as part of our bush training for one of the matial arts I did. One of your best friends in a survival situation. I guess many of the uses of duck tape we'd use the electrical tape for instead. I love it, I keep a few rolls in some of my bags. Need to tie something to the back of the bike and you don't have rope or bungie cords. Electrical tape will do!
This was such an amazing technological advancement that had so many uses. My parents have told me countless times the many ways duct tape has saved their lives growing up. It was amazing to learn where it came from because, this may seem weird but I was told in school and from other adults growing up that NASA had invented it. I have since learned that NASA did love Duct Tape and found it very useful for their missions, which is awesome. It's good to finally know the truth that it was made by someone who cared for our troops and was literally considering how much time it took to get ammo boxes open. That is simply amazing. Thank you all so much, I'm honored to be a part of this community. Keep rockin' it Indy!
An interesting and personal family experience with the war is fishing, fishermen played a key part in the British war effort and a lot of my family served on trawlers during the war and it is an aspect that is all but forgotten about
My grandfather was a fishmonger in Manchester. He bought fish right off the trawlermen and sold it on his market stall. Before he retired his market stall had become a grocery store. He also bought whiskey of the trawlermen who would get it in Ireland and bring it in with the fish.
@@MrNicoJac they acted as escorts and supply ships for arctic convoys, was seaborn aircraft spotters, Hunted U-Boats and was used to both supply resistance forces and transport agents of the SOE and OSS, plus many more things
And there in Austin Minnesota, in the 1950's behind the plate glass of a store front, existed sun faded photos of the parades held hosting different war leaders from around the world visiting Austin to see where Spam was produced, in thanks. But the most remarkable were the letters from the post war refugees all across the globe thanking Hormel & Austin Minnesota for the food that gave them hope. Me, then the nerdy eyeglass wearing kid who actually read posters and monument plaques and historical markers. Now today an old man holding a fading memory of a note of history of something remarkable that had occurred there in that small Midwestern city of the northern edge of the Iowa corn belt.
Nice to learn the truth about Duck tape. I always thought it was DUCT Tape. My maternal grandfather was in WWII and said he could never eat SPAM after the war. Now I know why, it wasn't really SPAM. And why they are called "Jerry Cans."
There is a world of difference between SPAM and other so called 'luncheon meats'. For instance while I like SPAM and it's copies from Wal-Mart, and Aldi, I loathe Treat and all it's copies made with chicken.
duct tape must've been so easy to sell to construction companies, imagine having a bunch of returning GIs getting into construction or trade unions and seeing that same familiar tape they used in the service? Aside from its many practical uses, its no wonder it became so widespread post war
Maybe vice versa. The GIs returned home and went to their civilian jobs and were confronted with many problems that duct tape as it was used in the war was the easiest and often best solution for, so they ordered it.
What a fantastic video. As much as I like to see the weekly progress of battles and events... seeing interesting things like this - by-products of war that become common place - are also much appreciated!
Is that actually true? In Poland we also have "isolating tape", but it's its own thing, meant for use on electric wires (in English it would be "electrical tape"). Googling "cinta aislante" brings up pictures which look suspiciously like electrical tape and not like duct tape. "Cinta americana" does bring up actual duct tape though.
In this case, insulating would be a better translation than isolating. However, the use to insulate permanent wire connections is not approved because it tends to lose its stickiness over time. There’s another type of tape that electricians use that stays muy pegosa over time.
Brilliant, moving and informative! At 5.45 I’m sure you have a brief shot of British Tommies staring at a tin of Bully Beef (we Brits call it corned beef). I’m guessing their expression says..‘I can’t believe that this is the 274th day of eating this stuff...’
In UK I don't really remember seeing Duck/Duct tape until the late 80's and not common until the 90's. Maybe due to patents or just not imported. Spam was a standby growing up as it could sit on the shelf for months for "emergency" use. Of course it was the butt of the Monty Python sketch. As for the Jerry can, not that common but has never been beat in its ruggedness and sheer practicality. Very interesting episode. I'm sure you could find more items to highlight.
A comedy series called "The Red Green Show" had a regular bit of handyman's advice. No matter what the question Red's response was always "Duct Tape" . . . except once. The question was how to seal air ducts. Red was stumped and had no answer.
The little details about items like these make for some of my favorite videos. Fascinating to know the history behind the rolls of tape on our utility shelf, or the plastic versions of the ubiquitous jerrycans sitting in my garage with the fuel for the lawnmower.
There's also one such food here in Hungary: Hitlerszalonna, which literally means Hitler-bacon. Today it's labelled as "ovenproof jam" but the old name is still used. It's a dense fruit jam made from mixed fruits such as plum and sold in brick shaped blocks. These slabs were sliced, a bit like bacon. During World War II, Hungarian soldiers received food provisions from the Germans, and it was often fruit flavored jam instead of bacon. So the soldiers started to refer to this jam as the emperor's bacon, and the "emperor" was Adolf Hitler (these days emperor bacon (császarszalonna) is the term used for pork belly). That's where the name comes from. It's quite sweet and you can get it in various flavours.
It would be great to see a special on synthetic rubber!! It was pretty much entirely created during WW2, and the book “How to Hide an Empire”’has a FANTASTIC chapter on it.
It was absolutely VITAL to the war effort after Japan conquered much of Southeast Asia, which produced almost all the worlds rubber. Everyone needed it, and the fact that the US was able to develop it efficiently and Germany did not was crucial to the war effort.
Excellent. We were still using 100-mile-an-hour tape in Vietnam, on helicopters. And SPAM remains very popular in Hawaii - they too were introduced to it during WW2 as a wonderful ration.
This is THE SPECIAL I was waiting for! Thank you so much for providing me with the Name of the duct Tape inventor. As a technical counsellor on adhesives I am often telling my costumers the origins of modern day adhesives, and the WW 2 Story of Duct Tape is amongst it. Superglue based on Cyanoacrylate also saw its use in the Vietnam War. It was used as a spray to temporarily close Wounds and the stuff is still in use in Hospitals to this day. So again thank you for this Episode!
100 mile an hour tape was used on wing leading edges to cover machinegun muzzles on fighters, to keep sleet and rain from accumulating in the gun muzzles before they reach their destination.
Some of my favorite comedy bits of all time are Tim Allen's duct tape routine. Finding useful and creative uses for duct tape is almost a modern day rite of passage.
Awesome. I remember eating Spam in the 60s and mostly hating it, but as a wartime foodstuff, it was ingenious. Sadly, after the war, Spam did tremendous damage to the Pacific Islanders who grew to depend on it. To this day, it remains a staple in the diet of millions of overweight Samoans and others in that neck of the woods, much to the chagrin of dieticians everywhere. As for "Duck" tape, while it was and is eminently useful, far too many hillbilly houses, cars and persons are held together by this easy substitute for expensive materials and workmanship. I mean, a hockey stick is one thing, but grandma's cane really does deserve something better.
The Jerrycan! One of the most successful and most enduring pieces of WWII technology. This is why I love this channel. It's not only the battles and the generals and the weapons, but *all* the levels of detail, from the "grand strategy" view, to the small things, like canisters and cans of meat.
Sound engineers do not use duck/t tape. They use gaffer's tape, which is similar but has a different adhesive that comes off with the tape. If you use duct/k tape, you will have schmutz on the floor, equipment, cables, etc. and you will need to use a nasty solvent. Most venues care a lot about the stage floor, and most equipment owners care about their cords, treating them very gently. When they fail in a show, it's bad, and they cost a lot, and there are often many of them. You legally have to tape cables down when they must run across the floor. The venue requires you tape them down and not leave schmutz on the stage floor.
I remember working at a church where this was an issue. Where duct tape had been used, the goo left behind attracts dirt and you end up with dirt stripes that have to be removed with considerable effort. Using something like painters tape was greatly preferred.
Gaffer tape has a clothe backing instead of vinyl. Painters tape here is known as masking tape, as it is used to mask off areas to be painted and be cleanly removed afterwards. Draughtsmen used to use masking tape to secure paper to the drawing boards because you could (not always) remove it without tearing the paper.
I personally used a $4 roll of duck tape to rebuild and replace a tractor seat that had been falling apart after years of neglect. The duck tape seat actually lasted longer than the original seat, which would have cost $800 dollars to replace.
SPAM, for some reason, I believed to stand for Specially Prepared American Meat. Maybe a name that came from British service men (like my Granddads)? Honestly thought that what it really meant. Spam fritters still a thing from the chip shop in England. Eugh, horrible stuff. Fascinating episode, especially the Duct tape. Great channel, production just gets better and better, Kudos.
I never go on a canoe or kayak trip ever with out duck tape, it fixes broken paddles, or patches holes in the boat, or helps splint a broken leg or hold you together after a bad cut.
We got used to specials about guns, uniforms and vehicles. They're obviously very informative, but it's so refreshing to see a special episode about (kinda) war related items And it was so much fun! Thank you. :D
@@chrisvowell2890 It’s also an excellent depilatory for body hair. Just don’t press too hard and rip out a chunk of skin. I would not use it for facial hair or too close to your sensitive dangle bits.
Because when you jump out of perfectly good airplanres everything you have is either taped or tied to make sure it does not fall off on the way to the ground.
My grandfather served from N Africa through VE day. He talked about Jerry cans and spam but what I remember most is his fond grumbling of margarine and powdered eggs.
the jerry can was a marvelous invention to a problem that had started with automobiles. The early petrol, up to the war, came in flimsy cans and was purchased from shops and even pharmacies. Duct tape provide to be bad for air con and heating but good for many other temporary repairs. For duct work the short lifetime meant joints leaked that should have been better sealed. I had spam as a kid and my mother fed us spam, liver, and many other foods we don't eat now. I had spam recently and I finished the can but didn't enjoy the experience as much as I remembered as a kid.
Cloth, Duck, Duct, Gaffer's or 100 mph tape was used back in my Skydiving days to make temporary handles on the outside of aircraft. A wadded loop cross taped onto an aircraft would take someone's balance long enough to be outside a door with one foot on the sill.
Since it was mentioned in this episode, it would be interesting to see more on Adelaide boy Howard Florey's development of penicilin and other early antibotics. It is one of the very few inventions that literally shortened the war and possibly saved millions of lives.
Although I’d heard of SPAM growing up in SoCal, my first exposure was on active duty when my ship went on deployment to WestPac. Hawaii, Guam, Philippines and Okinawa all had SPAM based dishes. Not my favorite but it was a decent alternative to fish. Main advantage in tropic climate was that it doesn’t spoil as easily as other food since it is completely sealed.
I love this episode and I always wondered why it was called a Jerry Can. LOL. Duct tape save a space shuttle mission and Spam is a staple food in Hawiwi. (sp)
When I was at Boeing we called duct tape 300mph tape because it would hold to 300 mph in wind tunnels and for temporary repairs on Helicopters. We also had 750 mph tape that was a thick metal foil and was difficult ti remove, We would often have to remove this tape with razor blades because sometimes the metal foil would tear on removal.
I used to love SPAM as a kid but I might have had so much of it that I got sick of it. I can imagine what a starving soldier or civilian would think of it.
Calling from Indonesia, spam is a pretty commonly used food item here too. My mom used to cook me this spam-chicken soup whenever we were short on stuff: it’s one of my favourite dishes!
With regards to Spam and how the Hormel meat company came up with it, I recently saw an old film that featured the main Hormel processing facility and how they produced the meats that they sold - slaughtering process and all. Granted, it was actually a RiffTrax video...
Actually, conventional "duct tape" isn't a particularly good choice for air ducts. The glue deteriorates too quickly, especially at the high temperatures of hot air ducts. It also burns too easily and produces toxic smoke when it does. Modern duct work uses foil tapes instead.
I live in Minnesota, my brother worked for Hormel for 30 years, its Horrrr Mall by the way. The best Spam dishes are in Hawaii. There are warehouses full of Spam for emergencies and when cooked right it is great stuff
My Mom grew up in England during and after the War. She LOVED Spam! Their meat ration was 1/4 pound per person, per week. SPAM packed more calories than what little beef they got, mostly from Argentina, which she described to me as "butchered by blowing it apart with a grenade."
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"We’ve found that duct tape is not a perfect solution for anything. But with a little creativity, in a pinch, it’s an adequate solution for just about everything."
-Jamie Hyneman, _Mythbusters_
For the rest, there is a WD-40 ^_^
@@agnyr If it's coming apart, and shouldn't be, duct tape. If it's supposed to come apart, and doesn't, WD-40.
@@matthewgladback8905 ggogle image wd40 duct tape flow chart
Jim Lovell, Fred Haise, and Jack Swigert approve this message.
Didn't they make duct tape armor a few inches thick at one point and proved it was actually fairly effective?
The Jerry can seems like such a simple invention I had always assumed they were around during the First World War. I'm completely surprised it took until 1937.
No, well into the war for the allies. If you look at genuine WWII films, the square can is everywhere..
And now I really know what a flimsy is. Heard it before, but now appreciate just how crap British gas cans were.
Getting the interior coating uniform reliably was a bit more of a challenge than most folks realize. Plastic was a very new substance, as were methods of application.
Very clever fellows, those Germans, luckily, they were stuck on overly complex too.
Here’s a 25-minute TH-cam lecture on the Jerry can: th-cam.com/video/XwUkbGHFAhs/w-d-xo.html
In the first world war, horses were still very much a thing. Mechanization was still in it's infancy.
Thar being said, WWII was only about two more decades away.
POSH, a shortened version of pork shoulder. Like spam but marketed to rich people
Pork Outside Shit Home
Ithought it was an acromyn for Port Outbound, Starboard Home
@@jeffreyland9447 I've heard that version too. Also SPAM was from Shoulder Pork And Ham.
My dad always said 100mph tape was different than duct tape, we had both at home (dad brought some back from Vietnam) he said you could patch bullet holes in airplanes with it and it'd work just fine. Thus the name.
He may have been right.
There's special airline "duct tape" that goes on engines and rivets and such - small stuff that needs to be flat for aerodynamics, but does not pose a safety risk.
However, it is insanely expensive, and very different from hardware store duct tape. It has to function in a wide range of temperatures, and stand up to the air speeds and potential precipitation of whatever kind, after all....
m.th-cam.com/video/mG6gHpP6r1o/w-d-xo.html
When I worked with aircraft mechanics the silvery tape used to patch holes in aircraft skins was called Speed Tape. In filmmaking we use what is called Gaffer Tape, which is distinct from Duct tape as a real cloth tape. The adhesive is strong but less likely to pull the paint off a wall. Duct tape is meant for uses around water. I prefer Gaffer tape myself. I have used it to make a bandage. For bandages it works better than Duct tape.
In my Australian military career, naming had devolved into..
"Duct" tape, a plastic, grey/silver tape used for fixing/holding ducting, and anything requiring a decent relatively long lasting water tight seal. Great for sealing, not so good in under a tensile stress. And pretty useless at holding fabric together.
"110 mph" tape name centered around the fabric tape easily torn into strips (across the roll and along it's length) which was super flexible and perfect for temporarily fixing tears in canvas and similar (i.e truck tarps, tentage, clothing etc) not so good on ducting/pipes etc. Often black, but available in almost any colour. Wasn't as long lasting (esp in Australian outback heat) but incredibly good under tensile loads. It got it's nickname from the ability to hold up at speed on military vehicle canvas tarps
@@iffracem that sure sounds like what dad brought back from Vietnam. Sure dried out quick, but it seemed like it was immensely strong. Dad said they'd patch all the holes in the hueys with it and send em back out
@Jonathan Marbut Duct tape, the postwar commercial product is made of a different kind of cloth, with a less aggressive adhesive (cheaper) than the military commissioned tape produced during the war and after. Modern "100mph" tape is made without cloth and is instead made from aluminum and alloys pressed to high grade adhesive.
"Of course duck tape works in a near vacuum, duct tape works anywhere. Duct tape is magic and needs to be worshiped" -The Martian
One month ago a few inches of duck tape saves my day.
It's magic and i'm not martian.
Duck tape is like the Force (Star Wars)... it has a light side and a dark side and it hold the universe together...
“Turns out even NASA can’t improve on duct tape.”
I used it in the 80s as an HVAC installer. Turns out it was a bad idea and is no longer allowed by code.
With time, it becomes crispy, it loses its pliablity. The heat of hot ducts and hot attics can turn it into junk within months.
Today there's heat resistant duct or "duck" tape, but code in most places call for aluminum tape.
@@aredditor4272 Yeah, there is almost always a more specialised tape that will do what duct/duck tape does but better, and ironically enough ducting is probably the worst use case for it period. It's still a glorious general purpose tape though.
The complete tool kit always contains two items: duct tape and WD40.
If it is moving and shouldn't be, use duct tape.
If it is supposed to move, but won't, apply WD40.
Useless information. WD40 stands for Water Displacement 40th attempt. Determined inventors.
You missed the Hammer. If the other solutions fail: beat on it.
@@echtervogel reminds me of the old saying, "if brute force isn't working, you're not using enough."
Not sure you’ve hammered the list.
@@rolandoscar1696 Formula 409. Literally the 409th version of a cleaner/degreaser they tried.
I’d like to submit “Gelatinous Meat Cube” and “Technically Edible” as my entries for failed Spam names
neither is as good as SPAM's actual name in pidgin English, Square Pig.
Spam = sausages,puke,and,mustard
SPAM = Yum! Especially for camping and outdoor stuff. Served with eggs and cheese on toast, you have a great breakfast sandwich.
How about canned monkey butt
"Duct tape is like the Force. It has a light side, a dark side, and it holds the universe together."
- Carl Zwanig
I served in the Royal Canadian Navy for 24 years as a Naval Weapon Technician. We called it "Gun Tape" as we installed a plastic bag secured by the tape over the muzzle to protect it from the north Atlantic sea sprays... very useful
Ayup, same in the engine room and boiler room. Ready, Aye Ready.
I'm curious - if you went into combat would you try to take the plastic bag off first, or just rely on the first shot fired to blow it apart? Obviously a plastic bag is not going to stop a naval shell, but scraping the burnt remains off the gun barrel afterwards sounds like a potentially unnecessary inconvenience.
@@imperium3556 we always did pre-firing checks and post firing routines after every shoot. Operational priorities will dictates when we did those... even at 3 or 4 AM...lol
Quando omni flunkus moritati.
@@m1t2a1 you can change, if you have to
My dad served in the Western Desert and he said that the"flimsy" was univeraslly hated. As a man workingin vehicle recovery on the battlefield he was able to salvage Jerry Cans , which were much better, and he was both surprised and relieved when the British Army adopted them. (How about something on battlefield recovery, and both sides using each others' vehicles, plus the shipment of american trucks to Russiavia Egypt and Persia, which my dad was also involved in?)
The flimsy was so bad that the British reported breakages of flimsy's, due to bad packaging designs, on the way to France where they pre positioned them before the war.
having been inspired to read a boot about Stalingrad.... when it was possible both sides would take from all the dead bodies, any side, the best thing to find was FOOD. German soldiers knew what Russian bread tasted like, and complained but were so happy to get food. Also they would often take back German rations that had been taken by Russians from German bodies. Food is important...
In my entire family, my 83 yr old dad is the original proponent of SPAM. He did live through the Japanese occupation and subsequent liberation by the US (here in the Philippines), so it makes a ton of sense why he likes it so much.
It's very popular in a lot of Pacific island nations to this day; which makes sense thanks to the difficulties with food storage in tropical environments coupled with the difficulties of transportation.
I spent a week in Panngi Village on Pentecost Island in Vanuatu with a youth group. We were served SPAM every lunchtime, and honestly it was quite tasty the way they prepared it with noodles. The local produce beat it out, of course, but as far as tinned meat goes it was great.
"original proponent"?
@@CannibaLouiST yeah, only in our family though. My mom used to tell me stories of my dad bringing a few cans home for my younger cousins to try. It's a much saltier compared to our local luncheon meats so it was only me, my brother and him that really liked it.
This Time Ghost bunch is certainly a very professional group. They did an entire segment on Spam without referring to a certain Monty Python skit AT ALL!
.
I doff my hat in salute to you.
was waiting for this too hahah
The skit hadn't happened yet....
Out of context here, but it was the first thing that came to my mind.
SPAM: Some Pythons Ate "Meat".
Not even in the list of foods. That is discipline!
Funny thing is, in german we call ducktape "Panzer Tape".
We still kinda love our panzers.
I guess it does fit the bill as "armored tape" in a reinforced concrete sort of way (in french we called it armored concrete).
There is an alternative: Punkertape. Outside black, inside beer :D
In Sweden, we call it Silvertejp = silver tape as the most common iteration has the same silvery colour as tin air ducts and heat duct insulation covers.
In Spain we call it "American Tape". Not hard to figure out why.
@@Biker_Gremling It's a bit overweight?
Duct tape: the embodiment of "nothing is more permanent than a temporary solution"
Also it's hard a imagine humanity actually managed to last till 1940s without it
If it moves, and it shouldn't, Duck Tape.
If it doesn't move and it should WD40.
Before then baleing wire and twine was commonly used in places we would now use duct tape. Took more skill to use, but people learned it.
That's actually the real reason why it's called duck tape. Eventually it -cracks- quacks and then you need to apply more duck tape.
@@lobsterbark I grew up on a farm in the 90s and everything was held together with binder twine!
@@lobsterbark Yup, Bailing twine was my go-to for just about everything as a kid. the most Impressive I think was a 2 room tree fort, most intricate was a Bird cage.
"in war people don't care too much about patents"
Sometimes it still does. IIRC during WW1, Springfield Armoury kept paying Mauser for patents about their bolt-action rifle (the Springfield 1903 had taken some mechanism from Mauser models), even when the USA was at war with Germany.
Also, the first thing the CocaCola company in Germany did when the war ended, is go to the US and present the results of the sales of FANTA. Read the book by Mark Pendergrast, highly recommended.
I wouldn't be surprised if they were paying into an Escrow account, but I would be surprised if there was not some language that prevented the Germans from collecting a single cent of that money until after the war was over.
@@johnjones_1501 The solution to the problem is called a swiss banking account.
Probably better to say that some people don’t care about applying for or enforcing a patent.
There’s also a provision in patent law for the government to revoke/seize a patent unilaterally, sometimes making the IP an official secret. The government can’t do it willy nilly; the purpose must be for national security. An engineering company developed a submarine screw (propellor) with a very low sonic signature. The patent application and the design it contained was made top secret. It’s unknown if the company was paid anything or if the government used their design. It’s also possible that the design was too close to another design on which the Navy was working.
The U.S. government might made the Covid vaccines public domain, but didn’t. First, you have to believe that the Coronavirus is a national security threat rather than just a health threat. This could be argued either way. Second, you’d need to weigh potential good against longer term potential bad-you don’t want your Pharma companies to stop developing vaccines for future viruses, and they might not want to invest money if there is no return. Third, is that of course there are lobbyists that would oppose this. (I don’t think the third reason is the primary reason.)
In WWI Vickers made arty fuses were licensed from Krupp. Vickers continued to pay Krupp until HMG asked them to stop.
Being a veteran of the Pacific Theater in WW2, my grandfather always referred to Spam coming in such flavors as "shoe leather", "(un)spiced dirt", and "latrine filler". At least once called it "the worst weapon inflicted on the men besides malaria and the Arasaka while we were there."
For the British, Germans were called "Jerry," while to the Germans, the British were called "Tommy." One wonders whether this was the inspiration for the cartoon's name "Tom & Jerry." I don't know, just throwing that out there.
Is the Jerry can called so because of the same reason?
@@DoraFauszt Yes.
The name Jerry probably has nothing to do with Germans.
Tom and Jerry were used as cartoon character names (for a pair of drinking inept gamblers) by Joseph Barbera when he was working at Van Beuren Studios in a series running from 1931 to 1933. It is thought the names came from name of the Christmastime eggnog variant (it also has rum in it) which was created by an English writer to publicise his play about two gadabouts who spent a lot of time in socialising and drinking.
Barbera then moved to MGM and instigated a cat and mouse cartoon idea.
The names were suggested by animator John Carr in a 1941 competition run within the studio. He might have deliberately been re-using the names for the protagonists from the earlier cartoon series in the hopes that they would find favour with Barbera, basing his concept upon the fact that a male cat is called a tom and so Tom has also commonly been used for a male cat.
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_and_Jerry_(Van_Beuren)
@@DraigBlackCat Mystery solved! Thank you Stephen! 😄
Your video clip of a soldier emptying a can of 'spam' on a plate (5:42) is actually a can of corned beef which you can tell by the shape of the can and the non-smooth texture. Love everything you guys do. Thank you.
Duck tape is still saving lives. It's common training among field medics to use duck tape as an improvised bandage.
Seals up sucking chest sounds well.
Yes, I have half a roll in my kit. Also for splinting and improvised snakebite constriction.
I keep a few strips of duc tape wrapped around a bic lighter.
"If women don't find you handsome, they should at least find you handy."
Red Green, the Canadian duck tape king.
Keep your stick on the ice.
Little story about RG. My son was about 5 years old and I’d let him stay up late to watch RG on PBS. He LOVED RG. We’d buy him rolls of duck tape for his birthday. One day he looked at me and asked if RG was real. I told him it’s just a character on the show. He said “he’s been lying to me”. He was so upset. The next day he boxed up his RG paraphernalia, including an autographed photo, and put it all away. Never watched RG again. My Saturday nites were never the same without him laughing beside me.
Thanks I forgotten how funny the Red Green Show was. That nan could do anything with Duck tape.
Of course, to hear Hap Shaughnessy tell it, he invented both duck tape and spam while serving in the desert with Christopher Lee during the war.
Red Green was leaving a marina after getting repairs to his boat. Every employee and boat owner saluted as he went by. Every one of them had a roll of duck tape in hand.
"I'm pulling for you...we're all in this together"
Wasn't expecting this, I had made a comment a few weeks back on the invention of duct tape in one of the weekly episodes. Nice to see it come to fruition as a Special!
Duck. Really! I didn’t believe it at first, either. There’s a heavy waterproof cloth called “duck”, similar to denim (but not denim) that was used in the original tape.
I remember your comment! I thought it was very interesting and hadn’t heard it
I remember reading your comment
Your photo of the LRDG Jeep with a US spec Jerrycan is in fact of "L" Detachment SAS just after returning from a raid in 1942. The unseen man in the duffel coat is David Stirling, founding CO of the SAS.
It's likely that they know, since they've recently done a special on the SAS.
"BULLY BEEF"! Havent heard the term since growing up in Jamaica. Spam and Bully beef were staples for us since we were a British colony. Thanks for the nostalgia!
My Grandfather was an RAAF mechanic, serving in Darwin and around the pacific, and had a stash of 6 inch wide rolls of '100 mile an hour' tape. this stuff was scary strong, both the adhesive and the tape. however, he claimed it was mainly used to patch over bullet holes and other minor damage. it wouldn't hold up in rough, highspeed conditions, but enough to get the plane limping back to an airfield with enough of a workshop to get a proper fix done.
I was a little bit dubious, but have since learnt how many seaplanes (and his expertise was Catalinas) were flying reconnaissance and search and rescue, and had stashes of fuel and spotters on hundreds of islands and bays. you might take a hit from AA, land in a known safe harbour for a quick bodge job, and carry on back to a proper air base.
I remember being extremely sad when I used the last piece, he had long since passed. It had a very distinct smell, surely wouldn't be legal to make it today judging on the chemical reek.
Aaaaa the classics
Duck tape - in Finnish officially 'ilmastointiteippi' (ducting tape) is often known as 'jesari' - from 'Jeesusteippi' (Jesus tape - because you can do miracles with it)
Jesus tape thats perfect lol
Haha, I suppose the pious that don’t want to take the lord’s name in vain call it “Jeepers Tape”.
Or because when you are in trouble, Jesus Saves you.
When the WWII invention of duct/duck tape was combined with the Cold War invention of WD40 (invented for the aerospace industry), the universal, all-purpose tool kit was finally available. If it's moving, and it's not supposed to, use the duct tape. If it's not moving, and it _is_ supposed to, use the WD40.
As for the Spam... A neighbor of mine, when I was a kid, had been a veteran of the Pacific war, and he'd be ready to vomit at almost the mere mention of Spam. The U.S. military bought mountains of the stuff during the war, and as noted here, it wasn't always Hormel's actual Spam, but often other meat products, made by other companies, that the soldiers, sailors, and marines nonetheless knew only as Spam. Served a steady diet of this, throughout the war, this old veteran, after the conflict ended, wouldn't eat Spam if you put a gun to his head. It is funny how Spam caught on in the rest of the world though. It did catch on well in Hawaii as well, and I saw a lot of it when I was stationed at Schofield Barracks in the late '90s.
When my mom was mad at my dad, a veteran of the Korean War, she would cook Spam for supper.
"Lovely Spaaaaam! Wonderful Spam!"
I couldn't resist ;)
It's Vikings, not Lumberjacks! 😊
I was a soldier in the US Army in the 70's. When you started the video with duck tape I thought of how we referred to it as hundred mile an hour tape, back when I was young and subject to the whims of a sergeant, and you dropped this factoid as you closed the segment. Later you talk of jerry cans. I know what jerry cans are, way back when, I used them for both water and diesel. I had no idea of their origin or what the name referred too. That is why I love this show, I get to learn new trivia and feel smug that I know an inside bit of information. All in the same episode!
To this day, Spam is a daily commodity in Korea after they were introduced to it in the 50s. It's routinely given in very fancy boxes for gifts, especially around Korean Thanksgiving and Lunar New Year.
Another thing about the three handles on the Jerry cans is that it allows two people to carry a full can between each other, grabbing one outer handle each, sharing the load. So you can essentially create a chain of people carrying a bunch of cans. (About 10kg per arm instead of 20. Which, if you're carrying them around in a Desert for example while being low on food and water, drained of energy, is pretty beneficial).
Duck/Duct tape was indeed used for many years to seal HVAC ducts----my Dad was a HVAC mechanic and always had a supply handy. In high school (early 60's) I remember him duct taping the index fingers of 2 of my buddies together and challenging them to break loose. Hilarity ensued. But, sadly, the original duct tape had a Achille's heel: over time (years), the heat from the ducts destroyed the tape. Today, tape is still used, but specially designed not to dry out.
There is still cheap low quality duck tape that dries out, leaves a sticky residue, while also not being quite as waterproof as advertised. I myself prefer a good quality gaffers tape, although that will unstick under very hot conditions and doesn’t adhere as well on wet surfaces (or greasy ones). The good kind leaves very little residue but is quite sticky. I’ve caused concrete spalling ripping it off walls (admittedly the concrete was not in good condition, but it wasn’t crumbling, either). The backing is cloth rather than vinyl. It allows ripping in two directions without deformation of the tape. It comes in a rainbow of colors, but standard is black or grey. I find the 2” most useful, but it’s available in 1” and 3” as well (probably 4”, but I don’t remember if I’ve seen it). Goes for $12-15/roll (and I forget how many yards, but it’s a lot.
I once did an emergency repair on my car with gaffers tape, baling wire, and chewing gum. It sounds like a joke, but I managed to drive the car 2 miles to my garage. A set screw had fallen out, and I used the wire and gum as a temporary set screw, with tape and more wire to hold it in place. Good times! That was the $400 car that taught me that I want a job that pays enough to hire a mechanic when I need one. Just because you can do it yourself doesn’t mean you want to.
It’s definitely still used lol
Gerry can features not mentioned:
The bump at top rear is for gasoline expansion when the can gets hot. Prior rectangular cans would burst their seams in the hit desert sun.
The 3 handles were so one person could grab the center handle or two people could each grab an outboard handle.
The Gerry can had a built in filler spout.
The closure had a hermetic seal with a lever system that prevented high internal pressure from opening the can. Prior twist on caps would work loose when internal pressure was high
When I was very young back in the 60s my parents took me on a trip to visit a friend of the family, I was told he's been in the war and he wasn't quite right mentally , we arrived in the middle of nowhere on the edge of a wood and there was a small hut surrounded by what seemed like an entire years production of SPAM cans, It seemed that having devolved a taste for it when serving he then ate nothing else . Poor Soul - excellent video as ever
I much prefer and recommend aluminum adhesive tape for actual air-conditioning ducts. Survives heating and cooling cycles longer.
By modern Code, Duck Tape is NOT to be so used. Only aluminum tape is Code compliant.
Thank you for finally setting the record straight on DUCK tape!
I've only ever known it to be called duck tape. and mostly only seen in the movies. Isn't a product I usually see available. For holding things together here, in our family we usually just use insulation tape as the american's mostly call it, we call it electrical tape. The cheap stuff is plain junk. The expensive stuff is a wonder. I've taped my Licence plate on the back of my bike back on till I could get home to fix it. I've known others to tie thier broken shoe together till they could get home and put on other shoes. Which was a few days later. I've even used it to make traps as part of our bush training for one of the matial arts I did. One of your best friends in a survival situation. I guess many of the uses of duck tape we'd use the electrical tape for instead. I love it, I keep a few rolls in some of my bags. Need to tie something to the back of the bike and you don't have rope or bungie cords. Electrical tape will do!
When I was growing up I only ever heard the phrase said out loud, I never saw it written out. So I always assumed it was "duck tape."
This was such an amazing technological advancement that had so many uses. My parents have told me countless times the many ways duct tape has saved their lives growing up. It was amazing to learn where it came from because, this may seem weird but I was told in school and from other adults growing up that NASA had invented it. I have since learned that NASA did love Duct Tape and found it very useful for their missions, which is awesome. It's good to finally know the truth that it was made by someone who cared for our troops and was literally considering how much time it took to get ammo boxes open. That is simply amazing. Thank you all so much, I'm honored to be a part of this community. Keep rockin' it Indy!
An interesting and personal family experience with the war is fishing, fishermen played a key part in the British war effort and a lot of my family served on trawlers during the war and it is an aspect that is all but forgotten about
My grandfather was a fishmonger in Manchester. He bought fish right off the trawlermen and sold it on his market stall. Before he retired his market stall had become a grocery store. He also bought whiskey of the trawlermen who would get it in Ireland and bring it in with the fish.
How did fishermen play a role in the war?
For the food security, obviously 😅
But did they have any other roles that I'm overlooking? :)
@@MrNicoJac they acted as escorts and supply ships for arctic convoys, was seaborn aircraft spotters, Hunted U-Boats and was used to both supply resistance forces and transport agents of the SOE and OSS, plus many more things
And there in Austin Minnesota, in the 1950's behind the plate glass of a store front, existed sun faded photos of the parades held hosting different war leaders from around the world visiting Austin to see where Spam was produced, in thanks.
But the most remarkable were the letters from the post war refugees all across the globe thanking Hormel & Austin Minnesota for the food that gave them hope.
Me, then the nerdy eyeglass wearing kid who actually read posters and monument plaques and historical markers.
Now today an old man holding a fading memory of a note of history of something remarkable that had occurred there in that small Midwestern city of the northern edge of the Iowa corn belt.
Nice to learn the truth about Duck tape. I always thought it was DUCT Tape.
My maternal grandfather was in WWII and said he could never eat SPAM after the war. Now I know why, it wasn't really SPAM.
And why they are called "Jerry Cans."
There is a world of difference between SPAM and other so called 'luncheon meats'. For instance while I like SPAM and it's copies from Wal-Mart, and Aldi, I loathe Treat and all it's copies made with chicken.
duct tape must've been so easy to sell to construction companies, imagine having a bunch of returning GIs getting into construction or trade unions and seeing that same familiar tape they used in the service? Aside from its many practical uses, its no wonder it became so widespread post war
Maybe vice versa. The GIs returned home and went to their civilian jobs and were confronted with many problems that duct tape as it was used in the war was the easiest and often best solution for, so they ordered it.
Wow, never expected that this is why it's called a jerrycan
I mean, it's one of those things you just never really think about.
What a fantastic video. As much as I like to see the weekly progress of battles and events... seeing interesting things like this - by-products of war that become common place - are also much appreciated!
Great to hear this, thank you so much for watching!
Fun fact: In Spain duck tape is called "isolating tape" (cinta aislante) or "American tape" (cinta americana).
Is that actually true? In Poland we also have "isolating tape", but it's its own thing, meant for use on electric wires (in English it would be "electrical tape"). Googling "cinta aislante" brings up pictures which look suspiciously like electrical tape and not like duct tape. "Cinta americana" does bring up actual duct tape though.
In France it is know as Scotch American (Scotch although a brand name, is the name used for adhesive tape in France).
In Austria wie say Klebstreifen ("glue stripes")
In this case, insulating would be a better translation than isolating. However, the use to insulate permanent wire connections is not approved because it tends to lose its stickiness over time. There’s another type of tape that electricians use that stays muy pegosa over time.
@TheCredfield in the Philippines, sinta is "dear" or "love", usually to address a lover. "sinta pato" is dear duck
Brilliant, moving and informative! At 5.45 I’m sure you have a brief shot of British Tommies staring at a tin of Bully Beef (we Brits call it corned beef). I’m guessing their expression says..‘I can’t believe that this is the 274th day of eating this stuff...’
Yep. That was a shot of corned beef not spam. However still a good video.
In UK I don't really remember seeing Duck/Duct tape until the late 80's and not common until the 90's. Maybe due to patents or just not imported.
Spam was a standby growing up as it could sit on the shelf for months for "emergency" use. Of course it was the butt of the Monty Python sketch.
As for the Jerry can, not that common but has never been beat in its ruggedness and sheer practicality.
Very interesting episode. I'm sure you could find more items to highlight.
A comedy series called "The Red Green Show" had a regular bit of handyman's advice. No matter what the question Red's response was always "Duct Tape" . . . except once. The question was how to seal air ducts. Red was stumped and had no answer.
Interestingly, "duct tape" is not very good for ducts. It peels off over time. The good stuff is the shiny metal tape.
That shiny metal tape will slice the tail up without gloves
Mastic tape...
Seals nicely
it is actually illegal to use Duct tape on Ducts.....
🙃 Its illegal to use duct tape on ducks too...
@@jonmpb578 🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆🏁
The little details about items like these make for some of my favorite videos. Fascinating to know the history behind the rolls of tape on our utility shelf, or the plastic versions of the ubiquitous jerrycans sitting in my garage with the fuel for the lawnmower.
There's also one such food here in Hungary: Hitlerszalonna, which literally means Hitler-bacon. Today it's labelled as "ovenproof jam" but the old name is still used.
It's a dense fruit jam made from mixed fruits such as plum and sold in brick shaped blocks. These slabs were sliced, a bit like bacon.
During World War II, Hungarian soldiers received food provisions from the Germans, and it was often fruit flavored jam instead of bacon. So the soldiers started to refer to this jam as the emperor's bacon, and the "emperor" was Adolf Hitler (these days emperor bacon (császarszalonna) is the term used for pork belly). That's where the name comes from. It's quite sweet and you can get it in various flavours.
The császarszalonna is a translation from the Austrian term "Kaiserspeck". In the former Austria-Hungarian Empire such a name made sense.
It would be great to see a special on synthetic rubber!! It was pretty much entirely created during WW2, and the book “How to Hide an Empire”’has a FANTASTIC chapter on it.
It was absolutely VITAL to the war effort after Japan conquered much of Southeast Asia, which produced almost all the worlds rubber. Everyone needed it, and the fact that the US was able to develop it efficiently and Germany did not was crucial to the war effort.
Necessity being the mother of invention and all. Interesting episode.
Excellent. We were still using 100-mile-an-hour tape in Vietnam, on helicopters. And SPAM remains very popular in Hawaii - they too were introduced to it during WW2 as a wonderful ration.
I believe they love span sushi
Hawaiians LOVE spam and I'll never understand. Old gf was Hawaiian and wouldn't stop talking about it, but it's what they're used to I suppose
This is THE SPECIAL I was waiting for! Thank you so much for providing me with the Name of the duct Tape inventor. As a technical counsellor on adhesives I am often telling my costumers the origins of modern day adhesives, and the WW 2 Story of Duct Tape is amongst it. Superglue based on Cyanoacrylate also saw its use in the Vietnam War. It was used as a spray to temporarily close Wounds and the stuff is still in use in Hospitals to this day. So again thank you for this Episode!
Our pleasure, thank you for watching!
100 mile an hour tape was used on wing leading edges to cover machinegun muzzles on fighters, to keep sleet and rain from accumulating in the gun muzzles before they reach their destination.
Canadians will know that Red Greene approves of this video
Some of my favorite comedy bits of all time are Tim Allen's duct tape routine. Finding useful and creative uses for duct tape is almost a modern day rite of passage.
Awesome. I remember eating Spam in the 60s and mostly hating it, but as a wartime foodstuff, it was ingenious. Sadly, after the war, Spam did tremendous damage to the Pacific Islanders who grew to depend on it. To this day, it remains a staple in the diet of millions of overweight Samoans and others in that neck of the woods, much to the chagrin of dieticians everywhere. As for "Duck" tape, while it was and is eminently useful, far too many hillbilly houses, cars and persons are held together by this easy substitute for expensive materials and workmanship. I mean, a hockey stick is one thing, but grandma's cane really does deserve something better.
The Jerrycan! One of the most successful and most enduring pieces of WWII technology. This is why I love this channel. It's not only the battles and the generals and the weapons, but *all* the levels of detail, from the "grand strategy" view, to the small things, like canisters and cans of meat.
Who knew duck tape was so revolutionary! Thanks guys.
It is these types of specials that make this channel not just very good but great. Thank you.
@Mainer Thanks! We really enjoy fleshing out the story of the war away from the front
Sound engineers do not use duck/t tape. They use gaffer's tape, which is similar but has a different adhesive that comes off with the tape. If you use duct/k tape, you will have schmutz on the floor, equipment, cables, etc. and you will need to use a nasty solvent. Most venues care a lot about the stage floor, and most equipment owners care about their cords, treating them very gently. When they fail in a show, it's bad, and they cost a lot, and there are often many of them. You legally have to tape cables down when they must run across the floor. The venue requires you tape them down and not leave schmutz on the stage floor.
I wasn't aware that there was a marked difference between gaffer tape and duck/duct tape.
I remember working at a church where this was an issue. Where duct tape had been used, the goo left behind attracts dirt and you end up with dirt stripes that have to be removed with considerable effort. Using something like painters tape was greatly preferred.
Gaffer tape has a clothe backing instead of vinyl. Painters tape here is known as masking tape, as it is used to mask off areas to be painted and be cleanly removed afterwards. Draughtsmen used to use masking tape to secure paper to the drawing boards because you could (not always) remove it without tearing the paper.
@@edwardburek1717 I searched for gaffer's tape on amazon. The product that came up said "Just like duck/t tape except leaves no residue."
Painter's/masking tape does not work as an alternative to gaffer's tape because without the cloth backing, it rips too easily. Not strong enough.
I personally used a $4 roll of duck tape to rebuild and replace a tractor seat that had been falling apart after years of neglect.
The duck tape seat actually lasted longer than the original seat, which would have cost $800 dollars to replace.
I am surprised you did not mention that many B-17 and I would guess Lancaster missions were made with Duck tape covering bullet holes and even gashes.
I think Spam could have been called "Canned Human Food". This is similar to canned dog food:)
SPAM, for some reason, I believed to stand for Specially Prepared American Meat. Maybe a name that came from British service men (like my Granddads)? Honestly thought that what it really meant. Spam fritters still a thing from the chip shop in England. Eugh, horrible stuff.
Fascinating episode, especially the Duct tape. Great channel, production just gets better and better, Kudos.
Yeah, my dad (ex Royal Marines) also refered to Spam that way, but he HATED Monty Python!
I never go on a canoe or kayak trip ever with out duck tape, it fixes broken paddles, or patches holes in the boat, or helps splint a broken leg or hold you together after a bad cut.
"Damn Spam" is another one I'm failure with. Thank u for another insightful episode of as the World War Turns.
For decades I've used, relied upon, and LOVED the three marvelous creations covered in this video. Extremely well done, Indy! 👍👍👍
We still call it 100 mile an hour tape in the military, or at least we did when I was a soldier 20 years ago.
We got used to specials about guns, uniforms and vehicles. They're obviously very informative, but it's so refreshing to see a special episode about (kinda) war related items And it was so much fun! Thank you. :D
Thanks for watching, we're very glad you enjoyed it!
Clearly duck tape can fix anything
In the UK, parmedics recommend it as a good emergency wound dressing as it's completely sterile.
It was used in Apollo 13.
@@chrisvowell2890 It’s also an excellent depilatory for body hair. Just don’t press too hard and rip out a chunk of skin. I would not use it for facial hair or too close to your sensitive dangle bits.
In Korea there's still a sausage stew called Budaejjigae that uses Spam. Highly recommend!
Even today the US military calls the 2" OD green tape 100mph tape.
Because when you jump out of perfectly good airplanres everything you have is either taped or tied to make sure it does not fall off on the way to the ground.
My grandfather served from N Africa through VE day. He talked about Jerry cans and spam but what I remember most is his fond grumbling of margarine and powdered eggs.
In the Royal Navy we called Spam "mystery meat" for obvious reasons...
Just be super careful if they serve you calamari but it tastes funny. “This calamari tastes like 🐖 💩.”
the jerry can was a marvelous invention to a problem that had started with automobiles. The early petrol, up to the war, came in flimsy cans and was purchased from shops and even pharmacies.
Duct tape provide to be bad for air con and heating but good for many other temporary repairs. For duct work the short lifetime meant joints leaked that should have been better sealed.
I had spam as a kid and my mother fed us spam, liver, and many other foods we don't eat now. I had spam recently and I finished the can but didn't enjoy the experience as much as I remembered as a kid.
They used duct tape in the Vietnam war for numerous things. It amazes me the number of uses for it
I think the funniest line is when he says "...she takes the next logical step, and writes directly to President Roosevelt, as you do." Different era.
Back in the day in the US Army we had the ubiquitous Magic Green Tape to hold everything that was falling apart together.
Cloth, Duck, Duct, Gaffer's or 100 mph tape was used back in my Skydiving days to make temporary handles on the outside of aircraft. A wadded loop cross taped onto an aircraft would take someone's balance long enough to be outside a door with one foot on the sill.
Since it was mentioned in this episode, it would be interesting to see more on Adelaide boy Howard Florey's development of penicilin and other early antibotics. It is one of the very few inventions that literally shortened the war and possibly saved millions of lives.
@Dave Sisson We will be talking more about penicillin further down the line as its production and use ramps up towards the end of 1943
Although I’d heard of SPAM growing up in SoCal, my first exposure was on active duty when my ship went on deployment to WestPac. Hawaii, Guam, Philippines and Okinawa all had SPAM based dishes. Not my favorite but it was a decent alternative to fish. Main advantage in tropic climate was that it doesn’t spoil as easily as other food since it is completely sealed.
I love this episode and I always wondered why it was called a Jerry Can. LOL. Duct tape save a space shuttle mission and Spam is a staple food in Hawiwi. (sp)
When I was at Boeing we called duct tape 300mph tape because it would hold to 300 mph in wind tunnels and for temporary repairs on Helicopters. We also had 750 mph tape that was a thick metal foil and was difficult ti remove, We would often have to remove this tape with razor blades because sometimes the metal foil would tear on removal.
The tank museum has a great video on jerry cans
Is that the tank museum in UK?
Fantastic video, my English grandma used to serve us spam all the time growing up in Saskatchewan when we would visit her in the countryside.
If the enemy doesn't find you handsome, they should at least find you handy.
I'm a Soldier. But I can fight. If I have to. I guess.
I'm an Eagle Scout, 2012. I ate a lot of spam during my time in the Boy Scouts. Love the stuff!
Thank you for watching, Clay. Congratulations on achieving Eagle Scout, that is no small accomplishment.
How about instant coffee: Was this a WWII invention?
@3:27 And, I can testify that I've seen it hold together fenders on rusted cars. Not sure if they went 100 mph or not.
I used to love SPAM as a kid but I might have had so much of it that I got sick of it. I can imagine what a starving soldier or civilian would think of it.
Thank you for clearing up my Duck vs Duct anxiety that I have had for decades.
@derin111 Thank you for watching!
Duck tape: the handy man's secret weapon...
Calling from Indonesia, spam is a pretty commonly used food item here too. My mom used to cook me this spam-chicken soup whenever we were short on stuff: it’s one of my favourite dishes!
Instead of SPAM, meet Wet Hog! When you’re a hankering come get some Wet Hog!
🤣🤣🤣🤣
With regards to Spam and how the Hormel meat company came up with it, I recently saw an old film that featured the main Hormel processing facility and how they produced the meats that they sold - slaughtering process and all. Granted, it was actually a RiffTrax video...
Actually, conventional "duct tape" isn't a particularly good choice for air ducts. The glue deteriorates too quickly, especially at the high temperatures of hot air ducts. It also burns too easily and produces toxic smoke when it does. Modern duct work uses foil tapes instead.
Works great on ducks though.
I live in Minnesota, my brother worked for Hormel for 30 years, its Horrrr Mall by the way. The best Spam dishes are in Hawaii. There are warehouses full of Spam for emergencies and when cooked right it is great stuff
Tactical duck tape .. don’t go to war without it
My Mom grew up in England during and after the War. She LOVED Spam! Their meat ration was 1/4 pound per person, per week. SPAM packed more calories than what little beef they got, mostly from Argentina, which she described to me as "butchered by blowing it apart with a grenade."