Clap Trap

Joseph Conn is a radio fan, but he hates commercials. He has his own way of dodging them. Whenever he feels a commercial coming, he turns off his set by merely clapping his hands. Another handclap starts his radio blaring again when he thinks the plug is ended. A "commercial eradicator," which Conn invented, does the trick.

Conn, a 35-year-old Cornell University graduate, patented his eradicator while working in the Navy's guided missile program. At war's end, he became a television engineer, in spare time worked on his invention in his midtown Manhattan apartment. His electronics gadget, a sound-operated relay, fits neatly into a six-inch-square box, which can be attached to any radio. It can also be used for other purposes. Conn turns his apartment lights on & off by giving a short, sharp whistle.

So far, Joe Conn has had neither time nor materials to market his contraption. But by last week, as word of it got around, he was swamped with inquiries. Wrote a Philadelphia industrialist: "God bless you.. .. How soon can we get one?"

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