The Famous Drinking Bird

The Drinking Bird is made of glass....glad we got two as my 11-year old dropped and shattered Bird #1!! After adjusting properly, the bird drank continuously for HOURS until I physically stopped it....

What worked??

1. Used a glass 4" tall..filled to the brim with water

2. Soaked the Bird's Head completely with water

3. Adjusted the metal collar height (gently as glass is fragile!)

4. Most importantly....I slightly bent the metal "wings" (that rest on the plastic "legs") on the metal collar (gently) to position the bird's distance from the glass (plastic "feet"/base keeps it a minimum distance from the glass of water.

Once he starts drinking, it keeps on going!!

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These are exactly what you expect, and exactly what you want! They are so fun to set up and watch as they go INDEFINITELY as long as you keep their water supply filled ;)

ONLY problem is on certain surfaces the bird might "migrate" (ahahahahaha) a little, moving around slowly as it bobs up and down. I solved this by glueing a bunch of heavy bolts into the base of mine. Looks a little dorky, but hey, we're talking about goofy glass-bird things perpetually dunking their heads into water . . . the whole time wearing top hats. It's pretty dorky already!

Order these and have some laughs, you won't be disappointed!

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How it works:

The drinking bird is a heat engine that exploits a temperature differential to convert heat energy to a pressure differential within the device, and perform mechanical work. Like all heat engines, the drinking bird works through a thermodynamic cycle. The initial state of the system is a bird with a wet head oriented vertically with an initial oscillation on its pivot.

The process operates as follows:

1. The water evaporates from the felt on the head.

2. Evaporation lowers the temperature of the glass head (heat of vaporization).

3. The temperature decrease causes some of the dichloromethane vapor in the head to condense.

4. The lower temperature and condensation together cause the pressure to drop in the head (ideal gas law).

5. The higher vapor pressure in the warmer base pushes the liquid up the neck.

6. As the liquid rises, the bird becomes top heavy and tips over.

7. When the bird tips over, the bottom end of the neck tube rises above the surface of the liquid.

8. A bubble of warm vapor rises up the tube through this gap, displacing liquid as it goes.

9.Liquid flows back to the bottom bulb (the toy is designed so that when it has tipped over the neck's tilt allows this), and pressure equalizes between the top and bottom bulbs

10. The weight of the liquid in the bottom bulb restores the bird to its vertical position

11. The liquid in the bottom bulb is heated by ambient air, which is at a temperature slightly higher than the temperature of the bird's head.

If a glass of water is placed so that the beak dips into it on its descent, the bird will continue to absorb water and the cycle will continue as long as there is enough water in the glass to keep the head wet. However, the bird will continue to dip even without a source of water, as long as the head is wet, or as long as a temperature differential is maintained between the head and body. This differential can be generated without evaporative cooling in the head; for instance, a heat source directed at the bottom bulb will create a pressure differential between top and bottom that will drive the engine. The ultimate source of energy is the temperature gradient between the toy's head and base; the toy is not a perpetual motion machine.

An analysis showed that the evaporative heat flux driving a small bird was about 1'2 W, whereas the mechanical power expressed in bird's motion was about 1'20,000 W. The system efficiency is about 0.01%. More practically, about 1'1,000,000 W can be extracted from the bird, either with a coil/magnet or a ratchet used to winch paperclips.

The drinking bird was invented by Miles V. Sullivan and co-developed by George H. Shackley in 1945 and patented in 1946. He was a Ph.D. inventor-scientist at Bell Labs in Murray Hill, NJ, USA. U.S. Patent 2,402,463. The patent was titled "Activated Amusement Device."

THERE WILL BE A TEST (on this subject) TOMORROW !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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I purchased this item as a surprise for my fiance. He had stated repeatedly that he wished to find one of these birds. I searched around town and I couldn't find it anywhere. Checked all the online sites and this was the best price. Took it out of the box and all parts are there. Looks great and exactly what I ordered. Service was great and the package came when expected. Would order from the company again.