New Wrinkles

Transistorized Computer. Bell Telephone Laboratories told last week about a large-capacity electronic computer whose essential works occupy only three cubic feet of space instead of a good-sized room. The reduction of size is due to the replacement of bulky vacuum tubes by 800 tiny transistors and 11,000 germanium diodes. All of them together need only 100 watts ) of current, less than one-twentieth of the power required by a comparable vacuum-tube computer.

The Bell TRADIC (TRAnsistor-DIgital-Computer), developed for the Air Force, is intended for use on airplanes, taking over much of the electronic thinking now done by vacuum-tube equipment. Besides being small and light, it generates almost no heat, an important consideraion in the hot, cramped innards of a modern jet plane.

For Low Bailing. Parachuting out of an airplane at a good height is reasonably safe, and is even enjoyed by some. But when the airplane is close to the ground bailing out is almost sure death. Ordinary parachutes do not open fast enough to do the pilot any good.

To save pilots of jet planes that falter on take-off or are disabled by enemy fire during low-flying missions, the Martin-Baker Aircraft Co., Ltd. of Higher Denham, England, has developed a quick-acting parachute that works even when an airplane is still running on the ground. When the pilot triggers the mechanism, lots of things happen fast. An explosive cartridge blows the canopy off and tosses seat, pilot and all 80 feet in the air. Then an automatically timed gun opens small parachutes that steady the tumbling seat. An instant later, the timing mechanism opens the main parachute, the seat drops away and the pilot drifts safely to earth.

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