I have an old box of Knox Gelatine (pic enclosed)

[tim_bessell]

Good Day Fellow Emulsionologists,

I found this in my Mother's cupboard a few years ago. I used a few envelopes of it back then; probably shouldn't have.:rolleyes: I asked her the other day if she had any idea when she purchased it. Her best guess was late '50s, Of course she is in her late '80s and could be mistaken, but I doubt it.

Stamped on the top is a code I may be able to use in finding the production date. Knox Gelatine Inc., Johnstown, NY 12095 is on the box and individual envelopes. Mr. Knox started in Johnstown I believe.

More good news:
I have another batch of paper emulsion ready to coat this morning.

T

 

[Rick A]

The fact that there is a postal ZIP code in the address tells us that this is from the late 60's at most.

Rick

 

[tim_bessell]

Rick,
According to Wikipedia, the US introduced the Postal Code in 1963. So 63 at most. Thanks for the hint.

T

 

[tim_bessell]

Correction to my OP.

The zip code is only on the box, not the individual envelopes.

 

[Rick A]

Rick,
According to Wikipedia, the US introduced the Postal Code in 1963. So 63 at most. Thanks for the hint.

T

Thanks for reminding me of how old I am. Its been so long ago, I'd forgotten exactly when they instituted the zip code.

 

[tim_bessell]

Thanks for reminding me of how old I am.

hee, hee... I'm old enough i should remember; must be senility seting in. What did they have before zip codes? Was it just two digits (eg. 14215 = 15)?

T

 

[c.d.ewen]

hee, hee... I'm old enough i should remember; must be senility seting in. What did they have before zip codes? Was it just two digits (eg. 14215 = 15)?

T

Tim:

Yes, bringing back memories.... Only larger communities, e.g., NYC, had numbers, which were eventually incorporated into ZIP codes.

Growing up, my home address was "Brooklyn, 15, New York". Spending Summers in rural Illinois, folks there would not know what to make of that "15".

I also used telephones before area codes were invented
In fact, living in a small town 30 miles north of NYC in the 1960's (hmm, that's fifty years ago), I could still dial the neighbor using only four digits.

Charley

 

[Photo Engineer]

I'm really old then!

I remember using 3 digit phone numbers in the Pittsburgh area. Then they added a prefix to make it 4 digit and then 1 digit for 5 and then 2 more using letters. So, phone numbers once had 2 letters and 5 numbers, such as ULysses 8-9941.

Anyhow, back on topic, the old gelatin plant was about 20 miles west of Rochester NY in LeRoy. If you go to Google Earth and slide South West to LeRoy on 490, you find the Jell-O museum which is now a paintball arena as well. I've played many games there with friends and grandkids.

Over time, Knox has added and removed many extraneous ingredients to their plain unflavored gelatin. I have seen Dextrin, Sodium Silicates and other items in it to prevent spoilage, add a touch of flavor and prevent caking. It is also not as highly refined as regular Photo Grade gelatin. In addition, IIRC, the Bloom Index is rather low giving it more swell and less hardness per unit weight. OTOH, people have used it to make emulsions.

PE

 

[tim_bessell]

Actually, I used the 'old' stuff to make a gelatin cyanotype, it turned out beautiful. It was on the same Fabriano paper I am having so much trouble getting my silver gelatin emulsion to stick to. Which make me want to give this paper a sub coat of Knox before coating the silver gelatin.

PE, do you think this box of Knox is an active gelatin?

 

[Rick A]

When I was a kid, we only had to dial four digits to call anyone in the town we lived in. Only used the area code for long distance, and the three digit prefix for the neighboring town. Okay, enough of off thread banter.

Rick

 

[Photo Engineer]

Actually, I used the 'old' stuff to make a gelatin cyanotype, it turned out beautiful. It was on the same Fabriano paper I am having so much trouble getting my silver gelatin emulsion to stick to. Which make me want to give this paper a sub coat of Knox before coating the silver gelatin.

PE, do you think this box of Knox is an active gelatin?

Cyanotypes are insensitive to the ingredients in gelatin that make it act on Silver halides. Just about any kind of gelatin will work on many alternate light sensitive systems.

I can't tell if this is active, but I would guess that it is. After all, why go through the expensive and lengthy oxidation and extraction process to make it inactive, when the active gelatin is harmless to humans?

PE

 

[Kirk Keyes]

PE, do you think this box of Knox is an active gelatin?

If it's not made for photographic use, there is no reason to purify it so that it's not active.

 

[tim_bessell]

Kirk,
Didn't you mean 'there is no reason to purify it so that it's not (IN)active.'
Sorry Kirk, i think i get it now, it getting late in the day for me.

PE,
Photograde gelatin doesn't work with cyanotype for me, don't know why, just don't look good like Knox.

A friend of mine lives much closer to Buffalo than Rochester. A few years ago they changed his area code to 585, now all the calls he makes are long distance. Way to go Ma Bell!

T

 

[Photo Engineer]

Probably the Bloom Index but IDK really why photograde does not work with Cyanotype. It does for me.

PE

 

[wildbillbugman]

I spent the first 26 years of my life in NYC. Nobody I knew had an address or phone number! Stange, is it not?
Bill

 

[Kirk Keyes]

Kirk,
Didn't you mean 'there is no reason to purify it so that it's not (IN)active.'
Sorry Kirk, i think i get it now, it getting late in the day for me.

Ummmm - let's see, I think there were too many negatives in my statement to make it understandable... Let's try again -

"If it's made for food use, there is no reason to purify it so that it's inactive."

I hope that is better -

Anyway, just what PE said. (Plus he beat me to that post by 1 minute and with much more clear language.)