New Ideas

GOODS & SERVICES

After two years of research and development, North American Aviation, Inc. this week announced the first atomic reactor to go "on sale on the general market. North American's low-powered pile is a 450-ton octagonal structure, 19 ft. across and 11 ft. high. It can run eight hours a day, five days a week for 'ten years without being recharged with fresh uranium. Its product: radioactive isotopes for medical and scientific research and industrial uses. Price: $1,000,000, plus another $1,500,000 to house the reactor,in laboratories that can put its products to work.

North American was asked by the Atomic Energy Commission to design the pile. Isotope users now have to rely on Oak Ridge for 90% of their isotopes. Since many isotopes lose much of their radioactivity within a few hours, users would find a nearby pile of their own much more efficient.

Other new ideas:

P: Virginia's Dan River Mills, Inc. announced a new process, mysteriously labeled X2, which it claims will make rayon wear twice as long, resist shrinking, wrinkling, yellowing and harmful effects of some laundry bleaches. P:Chrysler Corp. rolled out a sleek blue, six-passenger experimental sport car, whose hard-top body was made by Italy's Carrazzeria Ghia. Built on a 125-inch wheelbase (v. 145-2-for Chrysler Crown Imperials), the low-slung "K-310" is 18 ft. 4 1/2 in. overall. It has the same basic engine as the Imperial, but horsepower has been stepped up from 180 to 310; the car can do 150 m.p.h. Added feature: a spare tire that can be swung out easily from the trunk compartment on counterbalanced springs. Chrysler has not yet decided whether to market the K-310. Approximate price, if it does: $12,000.

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