An early-morning fire which broke out Thursday in the Cambridge Electron Accelerator is expected to delay research were for two months. The accelerator owned and operated jointly by Harvard M.I.T.

Milton S. Livinsgton, director of the accelerator, estimated the damages yesterday at $100,000. He attributed the fire a short circuit in a condenser.

Livingston said that the fire will delay in research of 20 to 30 faculty members, most of them from Harvard and M.I.T. The research of 40 graduate physics students and several undergraduates will also be affected.

The fire began, Livingston said, when a short circuit set fire to oil in, the condenser. The fire did considerable image to electrical components nearby to some electrical cabling, he said. blamed the fire on a fault in the manufacturing of the equipment.

"Some type of accident is always happening in this business," Robert E. , assistant director of the acceleration, commented last night. "We've been we haven't had more."