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Space Needle 1HP Motor Turns 125 Ton Restaurant

After all these years in Washington state, I finally went up the Space Needle. There are a lot of historical facts posted along the way to the elevator ride and this one in particular caught my eye – the 125 ton restaurant that goes round and round is turned by a single 1 horsepower motor.

Not that it is free energy, but goes to show that when you have good engineering and you can balance 125 tons that well that you can rotate it for less than 800 watts!

Here’s a picture of that sign as well as a few other pics I snapped of the Space Needle.

NOTE: Apparently, the original motor was 1HP, now it is 1.5HP.