New Wrinkles

Snow Camera. The Army's Research and Development Laboratories at Fort Belvoir, Va. got orders to design a special camera to take pictures of snowflakes. Army brass demanded that it be impervious to weather and so simple that a six-year-old child could work it with mittens on. The first model, completed in 40 days, is probably the most specialized camera ever built. It is prefocused, contains its own light source and magnifies three imes. When the operator inserts a snow sample on a sliding shelf and presses a button, he has his picture. The Army will not say why it wants to take pictures of snowflakes or what six-year-old G.I. (wearing mittens) will operate the camera.

Sky Lighthouses. Passengers in night-flying airliners have all seen the fingers of light swinging around the dark countryside from airway ground beacons. Soon they will see the same fingers aloft. At least two airlines are equipping planes with General Electric's new rotating tail lights. They will sit on top of the vertical tail fins, and their powerful periodic flashes will warn pilots of distant planes that they are not alone in the air.

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