(Also, cannabis is legal in an ever-growing number of states.

To put this in black and white, so to speak: This is a very bad idea. Oops! Speaking of bad ideas, a surprising number of people wrote to say that they suspected one reason for Wite-Out’s resilience was that it can be sniffed to get high, though most of them were quick to assure me that while they knew people who had done so, they themselves were not users. And while I noted a few possible reasons that the correction-fluids business remains strong-sales of Wite-Out itself jumped 10 percent in 2017-there are a great many more unorthodox uses for sticky white fluid and its tape-based sibling that I didn’t cover.įirst, I should acknowledge that I may have committed a fatal error in writing the story itself: “First rule of wite-out. The answer, it turns out, is many of you. In 2017, sales of Wite-Out grew nearly 10 percent globally with AdWeek suggesting that the increase in sales was due to artists using the fluid as paint.Last week, I asked who still uses correction fluids such as Wite-Out, and why. The French corporation Société Bic acquired Wite-Out Products in 1992. The company addressed these problems in July 1990 with the introduction of a reformulated 'For Everything' correction fluid. New problems arose: a separate bottle of thinner was required, and the solvent used was known to contribute to ozone depletion. Three different formulas were created, each optimized for different media. Douglas, as chairman, led the company toward solvent-based formulas with faster drying times. The company was bought in 1981 by Archibald Douglas.

The formula also did not work well on non-photostatic media such as typewritten copy. While this allowed simple cleaning, it also had the problem of long drying times. The application listed the date of 'first use in commerce' as January 27, 1966.Įarly forms of Wite-Out sold through 1981 were water-based and hence water- soluble. The trademark 'Wite-Out' was registered by the United States Patent and Trademark Office on February 5, 1974. In 1971, they incorporated as Wite-Out Products, Inc.

Johan enlisted the help of his associate George Kloosterhouse, a basement waterproofer who experimented with chemicals, and together they developed their own correction fluid, introduced as 'Wite-Out WO-1 Erasing Liquid'. Wite-Out dates to 1966, when Edwin Johan, an insurance-company clerk, sought to address a problem he observed in correction fluid available at the time: a tendency to smudge ink on photostatic copies when it was applied. JSTOR ( February 2019) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message).Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources in this section. This section needs additional citations for verification.

White out tape