Still use it!

We are showing our age if we say that we remember it. I think it had a bitumen base as an adhesive. Have not seen it for sale, here in Oz.

Paul

Empire tape in my day was smooth yellow tape which we bound up the end windings of motors/generator and stuck the end down with some black stuff, the name of which I can't remember. It was in sticks about and inch wide, we warmed it with a flame so that it melted a bit and then sort of smeared it onto what ever we wanted sticking down. Maybe it was sticks of pitch, long before modern material were available. In the winding shop store we had many different insulation materials. Elephant hide comes to mind, so does syster flex in different diameters. That Black so called insulation tape was used extensively by electricians, it was rolled in onto what ever, sort of up side down so that it was really tight fit. I'm not sure just how good it is/was insulation, wise compare to modern tapes. Maybe not so good, as the adhesive driers out with time, never seen it for sale for years. John