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GOODS & SERVICES

Helicopter Bus. The first ten-passenger Sikorsky helicopter entered regular commercial flying service last week and will soon begin an aerial bus service connecting downtown Los Angeles, the International Airport and outlying towns. The $150,000 all-metal 8-55, which cruises at 86 m.p.h. and has a range of 460 miles, has been battle-tested for a year in Korea. Fifteen of them, flying in relays over a period of six hours, once moved a battalion of fully equipped infantry into a front-line area in 48 hours less time than normal motor transport.

On the Beam. A pictorial computer for instrument flying is ready for production by Arma Corp., subsidiary of American Bosch Corp. Up till now, a pilot flying blind has had to figure out his position from radio data. The new, 37-lb. device picks up the data, computes it automatically and continuously plots a plane's exact position on a 10-in. luminous screen.

Competition for Quonset. A "revolutionary" steel military shelter was announced by President John J. O'Brien of Gunnison Homes, Inc., a subsidiary of U.S. Steel. Insulated with Fiberglas, the barracks-type, all-steel units will be demountable, portable and fire-and hurricane-proof. Any part can be lifted by two men, and five men can erect a 20-by-48-ft. basic shelter in one day, using only hammers, pins and wedges. Gunnison says its shelter is better looking than the Quonset huts, has no space-wasting curves, can be painted more easily, gives better protection in combat areas. Shelter production will start within a year at a new plant at Shiremanstown, Pa.

Good Gripper. B. F. Goodrich Co. brought out a new tread design on its puncture-sealing, tubeless tire. The tread has more than 10,000 tiny blocks of rubber (16 to the inch), approximately a quarter of an inch deep. When the brakes are applied, the blocks flatten out, giving the tires more traction. On icy pavements, said Goodrich, the tires will stop a car 15 to 30% faster than conventional tires.

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