The Marketplace: Build Small

Despite the fact that compact cars are rapidly becoming less so and wide-screen movies more so, miniaturization still proudly rears its tiny head. Latest in the list of products that have grown smaller, lighter, handier:

∙ TINY TV. The most hypnotically popular item to be introduced in many months is a tiny TV set with a screen smaller than a postcard (4½ in. by 3½ in.). Made by Japan’s Sony, Micro-TV produces a snapshot-clear picture, weighs only 8 Ibs., and can operate on house current, a rechargeable battery pack, or—in states where the law allows it—on the juice from an auto cigarette lighter socket. One of Micro-TV’s neatest features is its view-ability at less than arm’s length on office desk or bedside table; there are also auxiliary earphones for private listening. Price: $229.95, plus $39.95 for battery pack, $17.95 for auto adapter.

∙ PORTABLE PIANO. An electronic portable piano built into a case about the size of a two-suiter has been put on the market by the Wurlitzer Co., De Kalb, Ill. Like the Micro-TV, it operates on house current or a battery pack. With a 64-note keyboard, the all-transistor piano can be played via built-in loudspeaker or earphones (for silent practicing), has controls to vary the tone from Hawaiian guitar to vibraphone to glockenspiel. With case, bench, battery pack and earphones, approximate price: $475.

∙ PAPER SHREDDER. A new office paper shredder not much bigger than a typewriter comes from Michael Lith Sales Corp. of Manhattan. The Destroyit Super-Speed can digest 500 Ibs. of confidential letters, microfilm, ledger sheets, contracts, blueprints in an hour, is not upset by stray paper clips or staples. It can handle sheets as wide as a newspaper, produces shreds in three widths—depending on the model—which it neatly spews into disposable plastic bags. For businesses where disposal of confidential or secret material is essential, Destroyit does the job on the spot. Price: $425-$495.

∙ POCKET SHOPPER. Definitely not yet on the market, but envisioned by Dr. John W. Mauchly, is a miniature computer for household use that will not only make shopping lists obsolete but will also mark the extinction of the grocery clerk and the checkout-counter man. Before going to market, a woman will slip her computer into her purse (it will have an inventory of what she needs in the way of staples and supplies stored in its wafer-thin memory cells). Once at the market, she will plug her computer into a socket in a vacant “delivery alcove” and wait for the results. The computer will carry out the business of identifying itself, making the proper accounting entries in its own memory, and authorizing the charge against its mistress’ universal checking account. In less than a minute the order slides down a chute, and the housewife brings home the electronic bacon. Dr. Mauchly, who invented some of the original big computers and has already built one the size of a suitcase, is working on the pocket monster.