The Amazing Surrealific Phantasmagoric ROTO-SPHERE!
BY JOHNNIE AMERICA
First appeared in Route 66 New Mexico magazine (Vol. 31, No. 1)
“In this day of spaceships, flying saucers, and sputniks, a new series of developments have come to the electrical sign and display industry.” So begins the advertising brochure for a truly wild roadside spectacle created by Warren Milks at his Bossier City, Louisiana, sign shop.
“The buying public has had their sign appetite jaded by the numerous electrically lighted signs and displays on the world's busy highways—and the competition for the traveling public's eye is terrific,” Milks‘ promotional brochure explains.
Yup, all the gigantic fantastic flashing neon signs are not enough! Jaded travelers need more eye candy! The jaded roadie wants a close encounter with some spiky alien creation! Warren Milks ventured into the void, to boldly go where no man has gone before. He dreamt it and built it, the psychedelic mind-bending extravagantua—it exists—it lives—stand back and behold the phantasmagoric surrealific ROTO-SPHERE!
OK, the words “extravagantua” and “surrealific” didn't exist until appearing on this page but they have now entered the lexicon as brother words to phantasmagoric. a real word that can also be used to describe the effect of a ROTO-SHERE. According to vocabulary.com "Something phantasmagoric features wild and shifting images, colorful patterns that are continually moving and changing. The Greek word phantasma, meaning 'mage, is the ancestor of phantasmagoric, a word you can use to describe anything so weird it doesn't seem real." Uh...you mean...like a freaking ROTO-SPHERE!
In his promotional brochure, Milks describes the ROTO-SPHERE as having “The daylight effect of all ROTO-SPHERE units is much like a tumbling sputnik. It is very effective. The night effect is best described as startling."
People can see the two-dimensional photos of the ROTO-SPHERE in this article, but the size and kinetic motion of these sputniks need to be seen in person or at least on a video on the internet to appreciate the spectacle.
“The buying public has had their sign appetite jaded by the numerous electrically lighted signs and displays on the world's busy highways—and the competition for the traveling public's eye is terrific,” Milks‘ promotional brochure explains.
Yup, all the gigantic fantastic flashing neon signs are not enough! Jaded travelers need more eye candy! The jaded roadie wants a close encounter with some spiky alien creation! Warren Milks ventured into the void, to boldly go where no man has gone before. He dreamt it and built it, the psychedelic mind-bending extravagantua—it exists—it lives—stand back and behold the phantasmagoric surrealific ROTO-SPHERE!
OK, the words “extravagantua” and “surrealific” didn't exist until appearing on this page but they have now entered the lexicon as brother words to phantasmagoric. a real word that can also be used to describe the effect of a ROTO-SHERE. According to vocabulary.com "Something phantasmagoric features wild and shifting images, colorful patterns that are continually moving and changing. The Greek word phantasma, meaning 'mage, is the ancestor of phantasmagoric, a word you can use to describe anything so weird it doesn't seem real." Uh...you mean...like a freaking ROTO-SPHERE!
In his promotional brochure, Milks describes the ROTO-SPHERE as having “The daylight effect of all ROTO-SPHERE units is much like a tumbling sputnik. It is very effective. The night effect is best described as startling."
People can see the two-dimensional photos of the ROTO-SPHERE in this article, but the size and kinetic motion of these sputniks need to be seen in person or at least on a video on the internet to appreciate the spectacle.
Left: Gsllup, New mexico ROTO-SPHERE (photo by Joey Harrison).
Center: Close-up of Moriarty RORO-SPHERE.
Right: Warren Milks—inventor of the ROTO-SPHERE.
Center: Close-up of Moriarty RORO-SPHERE.
Right: Warren Milks—inventor of the ROTO-SPHERE.
We can begin with the size and what we are looking at: 16 aluminum spikes each eight feet long attached to a 37-inch diameter metal sphere resulting in a 19-foot diameter contraption. The sphere itself rotates 360 degrees horizontally on a pole and each hemisphere of the sphere counter-rotates vertically resulting in neon spikes spinning and rotating all at once at 6 rpm (revolutions per minute). Inside the sphere mechanism is a gear train driven by an electric motor. The entire unit weighs 1,000 pounds. As might be expected, Milks shipped the unit without neon and advised the sign shops that 256 feet of neon tubing was required to outline the spikes.
Milks created 234 of these sputniks between 1960 and 1971 with five of them landing in New Mexico. Two of the ROTO-SPERES went to sign companies in Albuquerque, two to Roswell and one went to Carlsbad. It is probable that the signs that were shipped to Albuquerque eventually went to the former El Comedor restaurant in Moriarty, and to a shopping plaza a couple of blocks south of 66 in Gallup.
Of the 234 sputniks produced, it is reported that only four are operational and only 10 can be seen on America's roadside. Of the 10, the Moriarty sign remains, though it is not operational. The only other ROTO-SPHERE known to exist in New Mexico is the Gallup unit, which was in good physical condition but not operational. It was removed from Gallup a few years ago and is now owned by a private collector in Albuquerque.
The Moriarty ROTO-SPHERE was fully restored with a grant administered by the New Mexico Route 66 Association. The restoration was performed by Southwest Outdoor Electric sign company in Albuquerque in 2002. The restoration was documented in the Emmy Award-winning film, The Neon Road: Route 66. The film can be ordered from the Association (info here). In the film, Johnny Plath, co-owner of Southwest Outdoor Electric, narrates the spikeless sphere being transported on a trailer commenting that he thought he might get pulled over by authorities in that the sphere looked a great deal like a Navy military mine. In another scene, Plath is shown with the interior of the sphere where he observes the gear mechanism as similar to a Ford Model A rear end differential.
Milks created 234 of these sputniks between 1960 and 1971 with five of them landing in New Mexico. Two of the ROTO-SPERES went to sign companies in Albuquerque, two to Roswell and one went to Carlsbad. It is probable that the signs that were shipped to Albuquerque eventually went to the former El Comedor restaurant in Moriarty, and to a shopping plaza a couple of blocks south of 66 in Gallup.
Of the 234 sputniks produced, it is reported that only four are operational and only 10 can be seen on America's roadside. Of the 10, the Moriarty sign remains, though it is not operational. The only other ROTO-SPHERE known to exist in New Mexico is the Gallup unit, which was in good physical condition but not operational. It was removed from Gallup a few years ago and is now owned by a private collector in Albuquerque.
The Moriarty ROTO-SPHERE was fully restored with a grant administered by the New Mexico Route 66 Association. The restoration was performed by Southwest Outdoor Electric sign company in Albuquerque in 2002. The restoration was documented in the Emmy Award-winning film, The Neon Road: Route 66. The film can be ordered from the Association (info here). In the film, Johnny Plath, co-owner of Southwest Outdoor Electric, narrates the spikeless sphere being transported on a trailer commenting that he thought he might get pulled over by authorities in that the sphere looked a great deal like a Navy military mine. In another scene, Plath is shown with the interior of the sphere where he observes the gear mechanism as similar to a Ford Model A rear end differential.
Left two: One of Milks’ first ROTO-SPHERE's installed in his hometown of Bossier City, Louisiana ROTO-SPHERE night and day: A brilliant night or day spectacular is shown by these actual photographs of the Holiday Manor Motel in Bossier City, La. Painting of the aluminum arms accentuates the "Sputnick" effect for daylight hours. The three-dimensional motions give a depth and character which is unequaled by any other form of animation.
Center: Navy mine?
Right: Johnny Plath opens up the Moriarty ROTO-SPHERE.
Center: Navy mine?
Right: Johnny Plath opens up the Moriarty ROTO-SPHERE.
Interestingly, Warren Milks refutes the assertion made by many roto-gearheads that the gear mechanism is automotive. The film does show the restored ROTO-SPHERE in all its neon glory at night.
Could it be that the Moriarty ROTO-SPHERE was the only ROTO-SPHERE on Route 66? The catalog of ROTO-SPHERE shipments to sign companies can shed some light on the subject. In Illinois, there are 31 units total with 27 in Chicago. Missouri has 5 units (all in St. Louis). There are two units in Wichita, Kansas; three units in Oklahoma, two in Tulsa, one in Oklahoma City. The Texas Panhandle got one in Amarillo, while Flagstaff, Arizona, and Los Angeles each received one.
Of the 27 units shipped to Chicago, the locations of only four are documented and none of these four were near Adams Street or Route 66. In St Louis, documentation exists for one unit, and it was not on any section of the route. No documentation exists for the locations of units in Tulsa, Oklahoma City, Amarillo, Flagstaff, and Los Angeles. So, in the absence of any other documentation, it can be stated that the Moriarty ROTO-SPHERE is the only known ROTO-SPHERE that was erected roadside along the entire length of Route 66. That is a surprise in that Route 66 in the 1960s was still in the business of grabbing tourists with ostentatious displays. Seems as though dozens of these sputniks should have lined the Mother Road.
We know that starting in the 1970s, urban renewal movement took hold and part of that movement included declaring neon as a rather tawdry eyesore with animated neon even outlawed as dangerously distracting to motorists. Those spike-in-the-eye animated ROTO-SPHERES must have been a horrific nightmare to those urban renewal zealots. Can you picture one of these zealots' hair-on-fire reactions to a ROTO-SPHERE? Yikes!
Could it be that the Moriarty ROTO-SPHERE was the only ROTO-SPHERE on Route 66? The catalog of ROTO-SPHERE shipments to sign companies can shed some light on the subject. In Illinois, there are 31 units total with 27 in Chicago. Missouri has 5 units (all in St. Louis). There are two units in Wichita, Kansas; three units in Oklahoma, two in Tulsa, one in Oklahoma City. The Texas Panhandle got one in Amarillo, while Flagstaff, Arizona, and Los Angeles each received one.
Of the 27 units shipped to Chicago, the locations of only four are documented and none of these four were near Adams Street or Route 66. In St Louis, documentation exists for one unit, and it was not on any section of the route. No documentation exists for the locations of units in Tulsa, Oklahoma City, Amarillo, Flagstaff, and Los Angeles. So, in the absence of any other documentation, it can be stated that the Moriarty ROTO-SPHERE is the only known ROTO-SPHERE that was erected roadside along the entire length of Route 66. That is a surprise in that Route 66 in the 1960s was still in the business of grabbing tourists with ostentatious displays. Seems as though dozens of these sputniks should have lined the Mother Road.
We know that starting in the 1970s, urban renewal movement took hold and part of that movement included declaring neon as a rather tawdry eyesore with animated neon even outlawed as dangerously distracting to motorists. Those spike-in-the-eye animated ROTO-SPHERES must have been a horrific nightmare to those urban renewal zealots. Can you picture one of these zealots' hair-on-fire reactions to a ROTO-SPHERE? Yikes!
Left: Milks patent cover.
Right: Patent drawing of ROTO-SPHERE mechanics.
Right: Patent drawing of ROTO-SPHERE mechanics.
The Moriarty ROTO-SPHERE with its brightly painted spikes stands tall above the Country Friends Antique store on Route 66.
It is awesome and very worthy of modern pagan rituals at midnight. lE uare incon, a to take of cannabis,
Or, if you are not into that sort of thing, just drive out there, park, and ogle the thing.
Warren Milks passed away in 2012. He done good.
The author acknowledges the fine work of Debra Jane Seltzer, creator of the wonderfully detailed web site, Roadside Architecture https://www. roadarch.com. It is her documentation on ROTO-SPHERES that was the source of most of the information included in this article.
It is awesome and very worthy of modern pagan rituals at midnight. lE uare incon, a to take of cannabis,
Or, if you are not into that sort of thing, just drive out there, park, and ogle the thing.
Warren Milks passed away in 2012. He done good.
The author acknowledges the fine work of Debra Jane Seltzer, creator of the wonderfully detailed web site, Roadside Architecture https://www. roadarch.com. It is her documentation on ROTO-SPHERES that was the source of most of the information included in this article.
Left: Moriarty ROTO-SPHERE after 2002 restoration.
Right: Hoisting the restored Moriarty ROTO-SPHERE in 2002.
Right: Hoisting the restored Moriarty ROTO-SPHERE in 2002.
