Historical Timeline

1940-1949
Adaptability During Wartime and Peacetime

In the first half of the decade, 3M products had direct applications to the war effort. 3M™ Safety-Walk™ General Purpose Tread, a 3M product used in industry to keep people from slipping on wet surfaces, was a natural for ship decks. Many 3M adhesives were used in manufacturing airplanes and ships, as well as the equipment in them. Scotch® Masking Tape was essential in painting ships, planes and tanks. 3M™ Scotchlite™ Reflective Sheeting marked airports, runways and life rafts for downed airmen in the ocean. It also marked road signs during bombing blackouts. After World War II, Scotch® Magnetic Audiotape was introduced in 1947. New plants opened across the country. Tape was now manufactured in Hutchinson, Minn., adhesives in Los Angeles, Calif., and roofing granules in Little Rock, Ark. Two innovations were introduced in 1948 that illustrate the company’s increasing product spectrum: 3M’s first nonwoven product, decorative gift ribbons and 3M’s first surgical drapes.