New Wrinkles

Voice-Powered Radio. The Army Signal Corps has developed a radio transmitter that needs no energy except electricity generated by the speaker's voice. The trick would be impossible if the set used vacuum tubes, but all it has is a single transistor, which needs only a faint current. When the speaker's voice makes the microphone vibrate, it generates enough current to operate the transistor and put the voice on the air. The present model, small enough to fit in a telephone mouthpiece, can transmit 600 ft. Later models, says George Bryan, developer of the set, should be good for a full mile.

Next step will be to build a voice-powered receiver. It will store up voice-electricity while the speaker is talking, then use it to pick up the answer while he is listening. Bryan believes that the entire outfit can be tucked into a plastic container no bigger than a matchbox. Mass-produced cost: $20.

Sun-Powered Telephone. When Bell Telephone Laboratories told about its silicon solar battery (TIME, May 3, 1954), it promised to find practical work for it as soon as possible. Last week Bell told how one of these batteries (432 quarter-sized silicon disks in an aluminum frame) is gathering solar energy for a rural telephone line near Americus, Ga. At night or in dark weather the line works on storage batteries charged when the sun is shining.

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