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Post by mogarden on Jun 6, 2012 5:24:17 GMT -6
I trust Phil will move this to a more better spot if there is one.... I saw on TV a reference to Thomas Edison making rubber from Goldenrod. I can't help but wonder if a recipe can't be made to apply this natural latex as a coating to used canning jar lids, so they could be re-cycled at least once. Supposedly the leaves have 7% rubber in them. There is one variety of goldenrod I used to make tea from, the kind that has a single spike of flowers. They taste like licorice, but I digress....7 % rubber means there's enough in a lb of leaves to coat a buncha lids, now how to get it out? en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goldenrod |
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Post by Christy on Jun 6, 2012 6:36:47 GMT -6
Thats pretty cool Mo. I didnt know that..
Wonder what all he did? you could research Edison's work on it n phind out.
wuld be nice if they still sold those old blue jars with the lids you could reuse.
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Post by mogarden on Jun 6, 2012 13:47:33 GMT -6
They still sell the jars with rubber rings but they're hard to find and I'm not sure if they can be re-used. If I was healthier I would sure do some work on this. Wish I'd known about it yrs ago. Funny, the ad is for cars or something that mentioned Th. Edison, and that was more or less just in passing. Some young person should get this ball rolling again. I know there would be patents in the way, but most of them should be expired long ago.
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Post by w8in4dave on Jun 6, 2012 20:27:52 GMT -6
Wow!! Who'd of thunk it?? I guess you have to start somewhwere ........
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Post by Christy on Jun 7, 2012 7:49:27 GMT -6
Edison died bephore he could get it on the market..theres not really much on it cept he did it.
he crossbred to get it 12% rubber, I dont know if even the plant its self is still around. I never seen a goldenrod 12 ft.. have ta look up goldenrods. theres two other plants with rubber, cant remember. queen anns lace I think is one.
sad his work got lost when he died. or maybe its still around n not in the public?
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Post by w8in4dave on Jun 7, 2012 20:03:04 GMT -6
OMG goldenrod is at least that tall here in our ditch .. Don't know If I'd go thru the trouble tho ... I want to go buy those rubber mats at TSC for walk way to my greenhouse just to get rid of my weeds there ... No worries that won't happen either  |
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Post by mogarden on Jun 8, 2012 5:02:06 GMT -6
Actually I think latex is pretty common in plants. Dr. Duke's website would probably show quite a few, haven't looked for them. I was just hoping there was a way to apply this common plant to help with a common problem.
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Post by Rita on Jun 8, 2012 5:20:13 GMT -6
It would be great to do .. and an interesting idea Mo ..
I would think you would need quite a bit .. render it down .. I know some plant stores have rubber trees .. latex mostly ..
I think I would be more afraid of it getting into my food somehow , and becoming toxic ..
They do have reusable canning jar lids .. I have not tried mine out yet but what a great idea ..
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