New Ideas

GOODS & SERVICES

Adjustable Battery. Willard Storage Battery Co. announced that it will soon put on sale a new auto battery with a special plastic gadget to adjust the water according to the seasons. More water in summer cuts acid deterioration, the company said, and less water in winter gives the battery more pep.

Cockpit Listener. North American Aviation, Inc. has developed a tape recorder no larger than a portable typewriter, which can log the conversation of a plane's crew for ten hours, and at the same time keep a running record of pressure, altitude, vertical acceleration, air speed, direction (taken from the plane's instruments), and communications from the ground. Called the Nadar, it is fire-and crashproof.

Floor Plaster. A new, concrete-like material which can be used as a flooring or in place of wall plaster is being marketed by Surface Coatings, Inc. of Atlanta. Water resistant and able to withstand heavier shocks than either plaster or regular concrete, it is made with a latex and water binder which makes it stick to masonry, plaster, wood, glass or metal. As terrazo flooring, it needs to be applied only a quarter inch thick, compared to the usual 1 to 1 1/2 in. Price: 75-c- per sq. ft. for terrazo flooring.

Propane Locomotive. The first propane gas turbine locomotive has been developed by the Union Pacific Railroad, Richfield Oil and General Electric. The 276-ton unit, which the U.P. plans to use on its Los Angeles-Salt Lake City freight run, can deliver 4,800 h.p., more than three diesel units operated together. The U.P. expects maintenance costs to be low because propane burns without leaving carbon-like deposits on the turbine blades, a fault of coal-and oil-driven turbines.

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