Edge Rewrite
// HTMLRewriter · presentation

This page was redesigned at the edge.

Cloudflare fetched the original article and streamed it through HTMLRewriter to apply an entirely new visual system without rebuilding the source page.

// request.cf · coarse context

A page that knows where it met you.

Only coarse request metadata is shown. This demo does not display or persist visitor IP addresses.

Country
US
Cloudflare location
CMH
Connection
HTTP/2
Language
Not provided

Ray ID: a23ec30da876b86e

Jump to content

Bubbleator

"Empty - the bubbleator descends for another 100 passengers to the World of Tomorrow in the center of the Washington State Coliseum. On its return trip to the twenty-first century the modernistic elevator rises in a glow of gold light while passing through shimmering reflections from the rainbow of the future world." Here, the Bubbleator rises to the upper floor of the Washington State Coliseum, now Climate Pledge Arena.

The Bubbleator was a large, bubble-shaped hydraulic elevator with transparent acrylic glass walls operated from an elevated chair built for the 1962 World's Fair in Seattle. These transparent walls gave the illusion of looking through an actual 'soap bubble' by refracting light to obtain a rainbow-like effect for the riders inside. It was originally part of the Washington State Coliseum (now a sports venue known as Climate Pledge Arena), where it lifted 100 passengers at a time up one floor through a structure of interlocking aluminum cubes to the "World of Tomorrow" exhibit. T. C. Howard of Synergetics, Inc. designed the Bubbleator and the exhibit. After the fair, the Bubbleator was relocated to the Center House at Seattle Center. By 1984, it had been removed and put in storage to make way for the Seattle Children's Museum. It was sold to a private owner in Des Moines, Washington, who recycled the upper part of the dome into a greenhouse.[1] The control chair, which had also been in private hands, was donated to the Museum of History and Industry in 2005.[1]

While boarding the Bubbleator, passengers were commanded by an ethereal female voice to "Please move to the rear of the sphere", or the "Martian type" male elevator operator would say, "Step to the rear of the Sphere" in a creepy sci-fi type voice.[1]

The soundtrack for the Bubbleator was conducted by Attilio Mineo and released as Man in Space with Sounds.[2]

References

[edit]
  1. 1 2 3 Cipalla, Rita (2022-10-30). "The Bubbleator at Seattle Center carries its final passengers on October 1, 1980". HistoryLink.org. Retrieved 2024-10-31.
  2. "Attileo Mineo". Subliminal Sounds. Archived from the original on 2006-09-28.

47°20′41″N 122°19′43″W / 47.344677°N 122.328542°W / 47.344677; -122.328542