GOODS & SERVICES: New Ideas, Sep. 3, 1956

GOODS & SERVICES

Warm & Cool Tractor. New comfort for the hitherto weather-beaten and windburned farmer is promised with the coming of a tractor that is air-conditioned in summer, heated in winter. The experimental tractor, its cab encased in glass and steel, was displayed by its inventor. J. F. Schaffhausen, of Cockshutt Farm Equipment. Inc., in Doylestown, Pa. Sparing the farmer from the seasons, says Schaffhausen, will reduce fatigue and boost his life expectancy, save him an annual bad weather loss of $1,000 and 30 working days. If brisk demand develops, Cockshutt will mass-produce the tractor, sell it for about $3,000.

Beef Candy. To create a new market for meat, Oregon Cattleman Ed Coles developed a chocolate-coated coconut candy bar containing 25% dehydrated ground beef. The meat lends a nutlike flavor to the high-protein Oregon Trail bar, which tastes like rich chocolate fudge. Coles hopes to market the confection for 10¢.

Midget Atom Reactor. Aerojet-General Nucleonics of Berkeley, Calif., is developing a small (9 by 6½ ft.) low-voltage nuclear reactor for research and engineering uses. Aerojet will begin to make reactors in December, "mass-producing" one a month, hopes to sell them to schools, hospitals and industry in the U.S. and abroad. Cost: $95,000 each.