It would be pretty hard to find someone who has never used tape dispensers in their entire lives. What exactly are tape dispensers? For one, tape dispensers are an indispensable part of office, school and home activities where repetitive use of sticky tape is needed.

Basically, tape dispensers are a type of gadget, which holds on to a roll of sticky tape (like masking tape or cellophane tape) and has a sharp cutting edge at one end where you slice off the sticky tape. The purpose behind using tape dispensers is so you don't have to free both hands to cut off a length of sticky tape with scissors - you simply let the tape dispenser hold on to the roll of sticky tape and pull off a length with one end being cut for you by the sharp cutting edge. This makes repetitive use of sticky tape go much faster than with scissors. It also frees your hands to manipulate whatever you are wrapping or boxing.

The technology behind tape dispensers has advanced so much that there are now semi-automatic electronic tape dispensers that can dispense tape of a prescribed length much faster than you could with the manual tape dispensers. And since people use these automated tape dispensers for a variety of reasons, you can now get light, non-industrial types of tape dispensers; industrial types of tape dispensers that are meant to be used for even more than eight hours of work per day; and the heavy-duty tape dispensers that permit round-the-clock non-stop use. You can simply buy the electronic tape dispensers that best fit your work needs.

For those who really need it, it is now possible to even get fully automated tape dispensers. Such tape dispensers may not even require a human to operate them so that the tape dispenser can work independently of human guidance. These are used for operations that really require speed and accuracy at the same time. This engineering feat is a testament to the powers of human ingenuity at designing such tape dispensers.

There are also special types of tape dispensers known as water activated tape dispensers, or gummed tape dispensers. Such tape dispensers will release tape that will not stick to any surface until the tape adhesive has come into contact with water that triggers the stickiness of the tape. This type of tape dispenser may frequently be seen used to tape down cardboard boxes in packaging and shipment applications.

The types of tape dispensers most lay people would be acquainted with would be those you can buy at your neighborhood office supply store or bookstore. These would be the manual types of tape dispensers. Not only are these types of tape dispensers simpler to operate, they are also far cheaper than the hard-working types of tape dispensers used for industrial applications. These manual tape dispensers are so easy to operate, primary school children can be easily taught how to use such tape dispensers without hurting themselves with the sharp cutting edge. And most manual tape dispensers have sharp cutting edges which are not sharp enough to cut your finger unless you really intended to hurt yourself. These are the safer types of manual tape dispensers to use.