The way to keep your Top Secret conversations top secret. A fixture on the 60s sitcom Get Smart, located above the desk of the Chief of CONTROL; Agent Maxwell Smart would always insist on using it when having a "hush hush" thing to say when in the Chief's office. A button was pushed, and the cone, a dual bubble, would slowly descend until the two seated individuals were each trapped inside their own bubbles. Then they could speak confidentially. But the cone was so effective, that often neither person could hear a word the other was saying. Your tax dollars at work.