'Smoke Trapper' ashtray, Japan, 1982

"Smoke-Trapper" ashtray filter device, designed to absorb 'idling cigarette smoke', by Smoke-Trapper Inc., Los Angeles, made in Japan, 1982 U.S. Patents 4,043,776, D239,540

Advertised as a smoke-free ashtray, the ‘Smoke-Trapper’ has a battery operated fan at the top to draw down the smoke from cigarettes and cigars. Although the ashtray was primarily designed to take away the nuisance and smell of cigarette smoke, by reducing its impact on non-smokers it also lessened the harmful effects of what is now referred to as passive smoking.

It never really caught on, partly because users of the device found that the cigarette was effectively ‘smoked’ by the fan if they left it resting in the ashtray. The device was made in Japan by Smoke-Trapper Inc.