125 years of innovation – tesa holds the world together

5 Aug 2021

We find them by the billion in smartphones; in electric cars they protect us from battery fire in the passenger compartment; no more drafts whistle through our houses; and penguins have tracking devices fixed in their plumage. In electronic devices, cars, buildings, airplanes – technical adhesive tapes from tesa are taking on an increasingly important function in many industries and in complex processes.

Dealing with the elements – such as fire, water, and air – always present new challenges: And more than 500 developers in the tesa laboratories across Europe, Asia and the USA tackle them day by day. Over time, more than 7,000 products have been created. Innovations from tesa for industry, trade and households have made life (and bonding) easier – and in some cases they even revolutionized it. What used to be a bicycle patch yesterday is now high-tech – and always on the pulse of time.

"Courage, perseverance, and innovative strength are inseparable from our tesa DNA to this day," explains Dr. Norman Goldberg, CEO at tesa SE.

Our overview of '125 Years of Innovations' is directed forward – But we will also take a look back into history. In 1896, the world's first technical adhesive tape from Beiersdorf, the parent company of tesa, came onto the market. With a great deal of pioneering and innovative spirit, perseverance, and courage, a failure turned into a bestseller: In the 1890s, the pharmacist Dr. Oscar Troplowitz actually wanted to market a new adhesive plaster, but it stuck too hard on human skin. Troplowitz quickly remodeled it and created the first technical adhesive tape, the "Cito-Sportheftpflaster", for bicycle patching.

The larger distribution of different adhesive products took its course. In the 1930s, rubber wraps for car suspensions helped against poor road conditions. Today, highly specialized tesa adhesive pads protect the passengers in electric cars in the event of a battery fire. In the post-war period, tesamoll^® pleasantly improved the sound of rattling radio sets. Today, wafer-thin high-tech tapes function as temperature managers in smartphones.

Curious? With our series '125 Years of Innovations' we show what adhesive technology by tesa can do.

 

On the road to success

Mobility never stands still; good ideas and innovative top performance accelerate progress. The global automotive industry is in the midst of the biggest transformation in its history – and tesa is right in the middle of it. Today, there may be more than 130 adhesive applications in a car. In 2021, adhesive pads are applied by robots to an electric car, while 90 years ago, the suspension strut of a pre-war vehicle was covered with a simple wrap.

Read more about our developments and innovations for automobiles.

 

The sound of the future

For the first generation of smartphones, it was hardly conceivable that a firmly bonded battery could be exchanged without any problems or that all materials could simply be recycled. Today, our tesa adhesive technology is proving the opposite in around two billion of these small high-tech wonders. Smartphones were not yet invented in the 1950s, but already back then tesa was convincing with smart ideas. What was good for cozy warmth thanks to sealed windows could also be useful for a pleasant sound on the radio.

Read more about our developments and innovations for electronic devices.

 

An all-rounder for all-rounders

Even everyday life has its heroes. They are often called tesa, because technical adhesive products are and have offered the perfect solution millions of times in the course of their history. tesa even allows us to hang up, for example, a picture or a mirror, using neither a hammer nor a conventional nail. Do it yourself: Practical and easy to use – This is how an invention that is truly suitable for everyday use has to look like. Where, if not between the kitchen and the basement, the office and the bathroom, home and hobby, is the need greatest? tesa is proving its innovative strength with patented solutions, such as fly screens.

Read more about our developments and innovations for end consumers.