THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, December 17, 1994 TAG: 9412160073
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: By PATRICK K. LACKEY, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 61 lines
FRANK LATHROP WAS watching a football game on television two years ago when his wife told him, ``You are such a wonderful inventor; you need to do something about that gas.''
Lathrop, 66, of Houston, is diabetic and admittedly given to flatulence.
As he recently recalled the conversation with his wife, he said, ``That's a hell of an idea. We could call it a Toot Trapper.''
Normally, said Lathrop, holder of more than 75 patents, a device is invented and then a name is sought. This time, however, he started with a name and set out to invent a device to soak up flatulence odors.
For tests, he devised a hand pump that emitted garlic odor. He pumped the odor into difference types of charcoal and smelled the results.
He ended up with an inch-thick chair cushion containing a type of charcoal used in military gas masks.
Registered as the TooT TrappeR, it went on the market in September. You can order one for $39.95 by dialing (800) 316-TOOT. If you buy two or more, they cost $34.95 apiece. It comes with a 90-day money-back guarantee.
The TooT TrappeR is being sold by UltraTech Products Inc., whose president, Wayne Story, is Lathrop's son-in-law.
``Its real purpose,'' Story said, ``is saving marriages, friendships and office relationships.''
Pamela Roth, Lathrop's 42-year-old daughter, works in an office about 2 feet behind Lathrop.
``I believe in it 100 percent,'' said Roth of the TooT TrappeR. ``One of us was going to have to go until that came along. It works really well.''
Until her father began sitting on the TooT TrappeR, she said, she kept a spray can of non-aerosol, orange-scented deodorizer within easy reach on her desk. She no longer needs the can, she said.
The TooT TrappeR consists of charcoal from a certain type of nutshell burned at a certain temperature, said Lathrop. It is contained in polyurethane and covered by gray tweed upholstery.
The TooT TrappeR is not marketed as soundproof, but Story noted that polyurethane is used in concert halls to soak up sound. The TooT TrappeR muffles sound, he said.
A TooT TrappeR will last at least a year, Story said. ``We're recommending replacement about once a year,'' he added.
He said he is negotiating with the two major TV shopping channels and expects to sell his product on one of them early next year.
Mainly as a joke, he said, he is drafting a letter to the next U.S. Surgeon General saying that secondhand cigarette smoke is not the only airborne office pollutant.
One thousand of the TooT TrappeRs have been sold, Story said, with another thousand sales expected before Christmas. Big sales are likely once the device is offered on one of the shopping channels and in catalogs. He predicts half a million will sell next year.
Story recommends TooT TrappeRs as a Christmas present for the person who has everything, including gas. Asked what the gift giver might say, Story suggested, ``We care about you and don't want you to be embarrassed.'' by CNB