Monday, November 28, 2011

Sand with the Tape

If you have a tape dispenser for your desk, you may have wondered why it sounds like there's sand inside. Well, that's because there really is.

Tape dispensers, by design, are light because they are mostly plastic. Because they are so light, when you pull the tape with one hand, it would slide across the desk. One way of helping this is the bottom, which could be a foam padding or rubber. This helps to keep the dispenser from sliding. But it's still light, and it could still slide across the desk. That's where the sand comes in. Sand is used simply to weigh it down. With the added weight, the dispenser is unlikely to slide across the desk. Also, the tape dispenser now can double as a paperweight.

So, why not metal? Sand is 'dirt cheap' (forgive the pun). It's a lot cheaper to fill the dispenser with sand than to add metal for the same purpose. With anything that deals with engineering, the two things that are thought about are "how cheap can we make it" and "how durable can we make it". If they can achieve the same effect of metal with sand, and save money by doing it, they will use sand.

Bet you didn't know that!

5 comments:

  1. Some years ago I dropped a tape dispenser on the floor and it broke in the corner and a load of sand spilled out

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  2. o thats sand we shoke the tape holder and it made a noise so i had to google

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  3. I have a tape dispenser with sand, and the dispenser fell and broke and most of the sand came out. Where can I buy sand to fill my dispenser up again? It would be convenient if I could buy it instead of having to look around for it.

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