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creep rupture under load and will not embrittle under normal load, said Dow. Practical and accelerated tests indicate the new material performs without failure well beyond the normal life expectancy of a refrigerator when sound engineering principles are taken into consideration in the design of the components. Dow points out that the design properties of Styron 453 are gained without sacrificing high surface gloss, an important appeal for refrigerator appliance components.
Transistorized Radio Navigational B e a c o n . - - T h e world's first completely transistorized radio navigational beacon has been developed by an Australian associate company of International Telephone and Telegraph Corporation and is now undergoing field trials at Mount McQuoid, the holding area for jet aircraft using Mascot airport at Sydney. The beacon was developed for the Department of Civil Aviation by Standard Telephones and Cables Pty. Ltd., Sydney. In Australia, transistorized beacons are expected to have an important function at many small infrequently used airports that presently lack navigational aids due to the high cost. In its solar-screen-equipped cabinet, the newly developed transistor beacon needs no special building, can operate from its own built-in power supply, and functions for long periods without maintenance or adjustment. It has been designed to withstand all Australian climatic conditions, having been successfully tested at temperatures from 14 ° to 140°F. and at up to 100 per cent relative humidity. The beacon is used with an omnidirectional aerial system at frequencies between 200 and 415 kilocycles. This signal can be picked up by aircraft using standard direction-finding receivers or radio compasses; each bea-
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con is identified by two or three morse letters sent by its automatic code sender. Although of somewhat lower power than the usual tube-equipped beacons, the transistor beacons give adequate coverage and, since power consumption is low, operation from self-contained batteries charged by a wind-driven generator is possible.
"Hybrid Computer.--A "hybrid" computer that introduces a new concept in engineering and scientific computation by combining the best operational features of analog and digital computers into an integrated system, was demonstrated recently by its manufacturer, Electronic Associates, Inc., of Long Branch, N. J. The new computer, designated HYDAC (hybrid digital/analog computer), was designed primarily as a scientific instrument for a range of research, design and development applications in industry, defense and civilian space programs as well as commercial applications for a variety of design and production problems. The unit, described as a major achievement in computer development, was introduced on the opening day of the Spring Joint Computer Conference, in San Francisco. HYDAC is the result of a 4-yearlong research program conducted by EAI's research and computation division at Princeton, N. J., and represents the first major change of direction in computer development in 10 years. HYDAC introduces a new concept to engineering and scientific computation. The traditional advantages of both analog and digital computers-the analog's speed, lower cost, ease of programming and the digital's capacity for data storage, decision making logic operations and time sharing of comp o n e n t s - h a v e been combined into one centralized system to achieve a compu-