Draft:Vesta Oral Stoudt

Introduction: Vesta Stoudt was born on April 13, 1891 in Illinois. She was the daughter of Gertrude Caroline and Ulyses Simpson Grant Wildman. She grew up in a household of five sisters and later married Harry Issac Stoudt. Together Vesta and Harry had eight children. She grew up in a modest American setting which played an instrumental role in her contributions during World War II (Applegate, 2023). Early life: She began her career in February of 1943 as one of the six million American women working in factories. Factories at the time produced military equipment such as guns, ammunition, tanks, jeeps and other types of equipment which was needed by the Allies to fight in World War II (Nguyen, 2019). Stoudt, at the time, had eight children: six boys and two girls. However, she kept working at a nearby factory despite her full-time job as a mother. She recognized the extra income she could collect from her work in the factory and she also wanted to support the war effort (Steven, 2024). Pain Point: Stoudt was working at one of the country’s largest munition complexes called the Green River Ordnance Plant. The plant was located close to her home in Sterling, Illinois which allowed for great convenience when taking care of her children alongside her job. At the plant she was hired to inspect and pack cartridges which were used to launch rifle grenades. The process of packing cartidges began with placing 11 cartridges into a box which was sealed with paper tape. The package was then dipped in wax to make it waterproof. On one end of the tape it was left as an open tab so that the box could be opened. After working in the plant, Stoudt noticed the tape was very unsturdy and often tore off when opening the box of ammunition. The weak tape created a dangerous position for troops in combat as they reloaded their weapons (The women who invented duck tape, n.d.). Innovation: During this time, Stoudt had a strong will to support the war effort as two of her sons were on active duty. Stoudt came up with the idea of using waterproof tape with thick cotton cloth, but after reporting to her boss at the plant her idea she was left undetermined. However, her frustration to help influenced Stoudt to write a letter to Franklin Roosevelt explaining her issue with the flimsy tape on the boxes. She appealed to the president by saying that “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” (Applegate, 2023). Six weeks after her letter was sent she got a response from the War Production Board informing her that her idea was approved and was of “exceptional merit”. Shortly after she partnered with Johnson and Johnson to produce her waterproof tape. Her tape was called “duck tape” due to the cotton duck fabric which was sandwiched in between layers of adhesive and polyethylene (History I Never Knew, 2015). Vesta’s impact: Vesta has had a tremendous impact on the world as her “duck tape” is used worldwide. Her duck tape is now used on tv shows, for craft projects, books and workshops. For example, in 1970 an oxygen tank on Apollo 13 exploded and austranuts were seen using duct tape to construct the carbon dioxide filter which eventually saved peoples life. Duct tape lives on to this day and without her many more military individuals would also have been injured. One remarkable woman, one complelling letter to the President and she has changed the world (Steven, 2024)!