Tubeless Radio

The first fully transistorized radio was claimed this week by Regency, a division of Industrial Development Engineering Associates. It is not quite the wristwatch radio of the comics, but it is only a small pocketful (3 by 5 by 1 1/4 in.), and it makes loud music, on a single hearing-aid battery. Inside, instead of vacuum tubes, it has four transistors.

The chief advantage of transistors--besides their smallness--is that they have no glowing filament and therefore need no "A current" to keep the filament hot. All they need is the "B current," and very little of that. According to Edward C. Tudor, president of I.D.E.A., the 22 1/2 volt B battery (cost: $1.15) lasts 20 to 30 hours if used continuously, longer when played intermittently.

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