Inventing Scotch-Brite®

It all started in 1938 when a young 3M lab technician by the name of Al Boese was told by his boss, that he might not be cut out for technical work. Al started his career at 3M as a mail boy without a high school diploma and had begun exploring the fuzzy front-end of nonwoven science. Rather than hunt for a new job, Al found the best library on fibers at the University of Minnesota’s Home Economics Department, and he spent the summer there.

All alone, Al spent 1938 studying fibers, conducting modest experiments hoping to discover how to bind a mass of fibers together without weaving them. One-day Al stuck a little tuft of fiber in a colander, it heated the surface of the fibers and bonded them together. That was the beginning of making nonwoven material.

Later in 1950 Al “married” nonwovens to abrasive compounds such as Aluminum oxide and Titanium oxide, to produce Scotch-Brite® scrubbing and polishing pads, floor maintenance supplies and industrial polishing materials, with varying compositions and levels of hardness.

When he retired in 1983 as a highly acclaimed scientist, his willingness to tackle this uncharted territory had led to a dizzying array of products including cleaning pads, surgical tapes, drapes and masks, fasteners, absorbent material to combat oil slicks, paint rollers for home improvements and sound deadeners in cars.