NEW PRODUCTS: Robot Secretary

Manhattan's Mohawk Business Machines Corp. last week unveiled a new wire recorder, the "Tele-Magnet," which will answer the telephone when no one is home. As Mohawk's President George F. Ryan explained it, when he leaves the house (or office), the gadget's owner puts his cradle-type telephone on the machine. When the phone rings, a mechanism lifts the receiver and turns on a phonograph record. The owner's own recorded voice announces that he is out, asks the caller to leave his message at the sound of a chime. When the owner returns, a meter tells him how many calls have come in, and a wire recorder repeats the messages (up to 60 minutes of them). The wire can be erased and used over again. Retail price: $198.50.