Origins | Edison Botanic Research Corporation & Lab Part I
August 9, 2011
Did you know that Henry Ford, Harvey Firestone, and Thomas Edison collaborated on a major research initiative?
Beginning in 1927, and with a research lab being built the following year, the Edison Botanic Research Corporation (EBRC) was created to find a domestic source for organic rubber.
EBRC founders Ford, Edison and Firestone sit on the front porch of the lab circa 1930 | Edison and Ford Winter Estates Archives
Why was organic rubber so important?
Having only recently emerged from the World War I, the three friends were only too aware of the volatile market fluctuations of the international rubber market. To secure a future source for rubber, the EBRC tested a variety of botanic specimens to determine their potential for rubber production.
Interior of the lab | Edison and Ford Winter Estates Archives
In typical Edison fashion, thousands of possible solutions were tested. Which produced the most rubber? We’ll tell you all about it in Part II of the Edison Botanic Research Corporation series.
To learn more about Edison, Ford & Firestone’s quest for rubber, check out Growing American Rubber: Strategic Plants And The Politics Of National Security by Mark R. Finlay, available in the Edison and Ford Winter Estates gift shop.
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