New Ideas

GOODS & SERVICES

Self-Adjusting Camera. A movie camera that automatically adjusts its lens for variations in the amount of light was announced by Bell & Howell Co. A photoelectric cell like a standard light meter controls two small electric motors (powered by tiny batteries) that adjust the lens opening to prevailing light conditions. Price: $289.95.

Sun-Powered Radio. A transistor radio that gets its power from either batteries or the sun's rays was demonstrated by Admiral Corp. To convert the radio to sun power, a small box-shaped unit containing silicon is plugged into the back. The unit absorbs sun rays and transforms them into electrical energy. Placed by a window or in a sunny place, it can gather and store enough energy to operate the radio even on overcast days. The radio will go on sale next month at $59.95, the sun unit at $175.

Amphibihouse. For travel-minded vacationers California's Neptuna Corp. has put on sale a house trailer that can pull up its wheels and transform itself into a houseboat. Built of steel and marine plywood, the 26 1/2-ft.-long trailer can be powered in water by a 7 1/2 h.p. outboard motor. It contains sleeping quarters for four, a kitchen, dining area and lavatory. The idea has proved so popular in California that Neptuna is producing five to seven trailer-boats a day. Price, without outboard motor: $3,795.

Sightseeing Elevator. San Diego's 15-story, hilltop El Cortez Hotel, overlooking San Diego Bay, has been fitted with a $100,000 Plexiglas-walled cab that travels up the outside of the building. Built by Glass Elevator Corp. of San Diego, the transparent 16-passenger elevator rides on a hydraulic steel ram 16 inches in diameter and 175 feet long. It starts its upward journey in the hotel lobby, emerges through the second-floor roof above the building's setback, then heads for the 12th-and 15th-floor restaurants. Glass Elevator Corp., which has already lined up other potential customers, says that an outdoor elevator can be put on any skyscraper, no matter how tall, by using cables instead of a hydraulic ram.

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