{{short description|Novelty toy heat engine}} {{For|excessive thirst in birds|Polydipsia in birds}} {{Infobox machine | name = Drinking bird | image = Sipping Bird.jpg | caption = Drinking bird about to dip its beak in the water | classification = Heat engines | application = Toy, scientific demonstration | fuel_source = Heat transfer | components = Bulbs, tube, axle, support | invented = 1945 / much earlier than 1920 }}
A '''drinking bird''', also known as the '''dunking bird''', '''drinky bird''', '''water bird''', and '''dipping bird''',<ref name="perelman">{{cite book |last=Perelman |first=Yakov |date=1972 |orig-year=1936 |title=Physics for Entertainment |volume=2 |pages=175–178 |publisher=Hyperion Books |isbn=978-1401309213|url=https://archive.org/details/PhysicsForEntertainmentBook2}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |author=American Physical Society |year=2012 |title=Insatiable Birdie |publisher=American Physical Society, with permission of the Hyperion(Reprint edition) |url=http://www.physicscentral.com/explore/writers/perelman.cfm }}</ref><ref>{{cite tech report |author=Exploratorium Teacher Institute |author-link=Exploratorium |date=1993-07-27 |title=Exhibit-Based Energy Teaching at the Exploratorium |publisher=US Department of Energy Office of Scientific and Technical Information |page=3 |doi=10.2172/6421909 |osti=6421909 |url=http://www.osti.gov/bridge/servlets/purl/6421909-YYI69H/ |format=PDF |access-date=2010-03-03|doi-access=free }} [http://www.osti.gov/bridge/purl.cover.jsp?purl=/6421909-YYI69H/ (cover page URL)]</ref> is a toy heat engine that mimics the motions of a bird drinking from a water source. They are sometimes incorrectly considered examples of a perpetual motion device.<ref name=perpetual/>
==Construction and materials== The space inside the bird contains a fluid, usually colored for visibility. (This dye might fade when exposed to light, with the rate depending on the dye/color).<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.souvenirbuyers.com/drinking-birds-retro-souvenir-still-popular/|title=Drinking Birds and Hand Boilers – Why these Retro Souvenirs are Still So Popular|first=The Souvenir|last=Guy|date=9 February 2015|website=Souvenirbuyers.com|access-date=30 January 2022}}</ref> The fluid is typically dichloromethane (DCM), also known as methylene chloride.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://science.howstuffworks.com/innovation/science-questions/question608.htm |title = How Does a Dippy Bird Work? |website=Science.howstuffworks.com|date = 5 April 2001 }}</ref><ref name="thoughtco" /> Earlier versions contained trichlorofluoromethane.<ref name="thoughtco">{{cite web |url=https://www.thoughtco.com/drinking-bird-science-toy-608907 |title = How the Drinking Bird Science Toy Works|website=Thoughtco.com}}</ref> Miles V. Sullivan's 1945 patent suggested ether, alcohol, carbon tetrachloride, or chloroform.<ref name="US2402463" />
Air is removed from the apparatus during manufacture, so the space inside the body is filled by vapor evaporated from the fluid.<ref name="US2402463" /> The upper bulb has a "beak" attached which, along with the head, is covered in a felt-like material.<ref name="US2402463" />
==Heat engine steps== thumb|Video of a drinking bird The process operates as follows:<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Güémez |first1=J. |last2=Valiente |first2=R. |last3=Fiolhais |first3=C. |last4=Fiolhais |first4=M. |date=December 2003 |title=Experiments with the drinking bird |journal=American Journal of Physics |doi=10.1119/1.1603272 |bibcode=2003AmJPh..71.1257G |volume=71 |issue=12 |pages=1257–1263 |hdl=10316/12328 |url=http://nautilus.fis.uc.pt/personal/mfiolhais/artigosdid/did14.pdf |access-date=2012-02-19 |hdl-access=free |archive-date=2011-07-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110701102407/http://nautilus.fis.uc.pt/personal/mfiolhais/artigosdid/did14.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>
# The water evaporates from the felt on the head. # Evaporation lowers the temperature of the glass head (heat of vaporization). # The temperature decrease causes some of the dichloromethane vapor in the head to condense. # The lower temperature and condensation together cause the pressure to drop in the head (governed by equations of state). # The higher vapor pressure in the warmer base pushes the liquid up the neck. # As the liquid rises, the bird becomes top heavy and tips over. # When the bird tips over, the bottom end of the neck tube rises above the surface of the liquid in the bottom bulb. # A bubble of warm vapor rises up the tube through this gap, displacing liquid as it goes. # Liquid flows back to the bottom bulb (the toy is designed so that when it has tipped over the neck's tilt allows this). Pressure equalizes between top and bottom bulbs. # The weight of the liquid in the bottom bulb restores the bird to its vertical position. # 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.
==Physical and chemical principles== [[File:The Engineering of the Drinking Bird.webm|thumb|Video "The Engineering of the Drinking Bird" by Bill Hammack]] The operation of the bird is also affected by relative humidity.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://physics-astronomy-manuals.wwu.edu/Dipping%20Happy%20Bird.pdf |title=The Dipping Happy Bird |access-date=2021-08-01 |archive-date=2021-08-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210801162341/https://physics-astronomy-manuals.wwu.edu/Dipping%20Happy%20Bird.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/228440964|title=Experiments with the drinking bird|date=December 2003|journal=American Journal of Physics|volume=71|issue=12|doi=10.1119/1.1603272|access-date=30 January 2022|last1=Güémez|first1=J.|last2=Valiente|first2=R.|last3=Fiolhais|first3=C.|last4=Fiolhais|first4=M.|pages=1257–1263|bibcode=2003AmJPh..71.1257G|hdl=10316/12328|hdl-access=free}}</ref>
By using a water-ethanol mixture instead of water, the effect of different rates of evaporation can be demonstrated.<ref>{{cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCKC-QVcVn0|title=The Engineering of the Drinking Bird|date=30 January 2018 |access-date=30 January 2022|via=YouTube}}</ref>
By considering the difference between the wet and dry bulb temperatures, it is possible to develop a mathematical expression to calculate the maximum work that can be produced from a given amount of water "drunk". Such analysis is based on the definition of the Carnot heat engine efficiency and the psychrometric concepts.<ref>{{cite web |title=Three hand-solved thermodynamics exercises for fun |publisher=Flórez-Orrego, Daniel. Polytechnic School, University of Sao Paulo |url=https://www.academia.edu/3258076|last1=Flórez-Orrego |first1=Daniel }}</ref>
==History== By the 1760s (or earlier) German artisans had invented a so-called "pulse hammer" (''Pulshammer''). In 1767 Benjamin Franklin visited Germany, saw a pulse hammer, and in 1768, improved it.<ref>See: * [https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Franklin/01-15-02-0091#BNFN-01-15-02-0091-fn-0013-ptr Benjamin Franklin's letter to John Winthrop of 2 July 1768] * {{cite book|last1=Franklin|first1=Benjamin|title=Experiments And Observations On Electricity, Made At Philadelphia in America … |date=1769|publisher=David Henry|location=London, England|pages=489–492|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-48_AAAAcAAJ&pg=PA489}} * {{cite book|last1=Robison|first1=John|last2=Watt|first2=James|last3=Brewster|first3=David|title=System of Mechanical Philosophy|date=1822|publisher=J. Murray|location=Edinburgh, Scotland|volume= 2|page=14, footnote|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.32044089506612;view=1up;seq=34}}</ref> Franklin's pulse hammer consisted of two glass bulbs connected by a U-shaped tube; one of the bulbs was partially filled with water in equilibrium with its vapor. Holding the partially filled bulb in one's hand would cause the water to flow into the empty bulb.<ref>For videos of Franklin's pulse hammer in operation, see YouTube examples: * [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-Yei5vBsxM Pulse Glass] * [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KbiMGsE0h8k Franklin's pulse glass]</ref> In 1872, the Italian physicist and engineer Enrico Bernardi combined three Franklin tubes to build a simple heat motor that was powered by evaporation in a way similar to the drinking bird.<ref>See: * {{cite journal|last1=(Editorial staff)|title=A new motor|journal=Scientific American|date=5 September 1874|volume=31|issue=10|page=150|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=pst.000062999335;view=1up;seq=158|series=new series|doi=10.1038/scientificamerican09051874-150|url-access=subscription}} * {{cite journal|last1=(Editorial staff)|title=A new motor|journal=English Mechanic and World of Science|date=17 July 1874|volume=19|issue=486|page=449|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t6JAAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA449}} * {{cite journal|last1=(Editorial staff)|title=A new motor|journal=Journal of the Society of Arts|date=24 July 1874|volume=22|page=788|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wcROAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA788}} * {{cite journal|last1=Bernardi|first1=Enrico|title=Modo di utilizzare il calorico dell' ambiente per produrre un piccolo lavoro|journal=Rivista scientifico-industriale delle principali scoperte ed invenzioni … (Scientific-industrial review of major discoveries and inventions … )|date=1872|volume=4|pages=297–300|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0roLhr6IGlMC&pg=RA1-PA297|trans-title=Way to use ambient heat to produce a little work|language=it}} * {{cite journal|last1=Bernardi|first1=Enrico|title=Modo di utilizzare il calorico dell' ambiente per produrre un piccolo lavoro|journal=Atti del Reale Istituto Veneto di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti (Transactions of the Royal Venetian Institute of Science, Letters, and Arts)|date=1873|volume=2|pages=1379–1389|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WMMUAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA1379|series=4th series|trans-title=Way to use ambient heat to produce a little work|language=it}} * {{cite journal|last1=Bernardi|first1=Enrico|title=Modo di utilizzare il calorico dell' ambiente per produrre un piccolo lavoro|journal=Il Nuovo Cimento|date=1874|volume=11|pages=27–34|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wT_Se8nrg8kC&pg=PA27|series=2nd series|issue=1|trans-title=Way to use ambient heat to produce a little work|language=it|doi=10.1007/bf02738665|bibcode=1874NCim...11...27B|s2cid=120829150|url-access=subscription}}</ref>
In 1881 Israel L. Landis got a patent for a similar oscillating motor.<ref name="US250821">{{Cite web|url=https://patents.google.com/patent/US250821/en|title=Oscillating motor|website=Patents.google.com|access-date=30 January 2022}}</ref> A year later (1882), the Iske brothers got a patent for a similar motor.<ref name="US253868">{{cite web |url=https://patents.google.com/patent/US253868 |title = US253868A - Motor - Google Patents|website=Google.com}}</ref>
A Chinese drinking bird toy dating back to 1910s~1930s named ''insatiable birdie'' is described in Yakov Perelman's ''Physics for Entertainment''.<ref name="perelman" /> The book explained the "insatiable" mechanism: "Since the headtube's temperature becomes lower than that of the tail reservoir, this causes a drop in the pressure of the saturated vapours in the head-tube ..."<ref name="perelman" /> It was said in Shanghai, China, that when Albert Einstein and his wife, Elsa, arrived in Shanghai in 1922, they were fascinated by the Chinese "insatiable birdie" toy.<ref>Alice Calaprice and Trevor Lipscombe, ''Albert Einstein: A Biography'' (Greenwood Publishing Group, 2005):86–87.</ref>
In addition, the Japanese professor of toys, Takao Sakai, from Tohoku University, also introduced this Chinese toy.<ref>{{cite book |author=酒井高男 (Takao Sakai) |date=February 1977 |isbn=4061179101 |script-title=ja:おもちゃの科学 |publisher=講談社 |language=ja}}</ref>
Arthur M. Hillery got a US patent in 1945. Arthur M. Hillery suggested the use of acetone as working fluid.<ref name="US2384168">{{US patent|2384168}}</ref>
It was again patented in the US by Miles V. Sullivan in 1946.<ref name="US2402463" /> He was a Ph.D. inventor-scientist at Bell Labs in Murray Hill, NJ, USA.<ref name="US2402463">{{US patent|2402463}}</ref><ref>"Dr. Sullivan also holds patents on several novelty items such as the well-known drinking bird." [https://books.google.com/books?id=IJc7AAAAMAAJ&q=Miles+V.+Sullivan+drinking+bird Electrochemical technology: Volume 6] 1968</ref><ref name=perpetual>"Miles V. Sullivan [..] is a member of the Photolithography Group in the Bipolar IC ... He is probably best known as the inventor of the “perpetually” drinking bird novelty." [https://books.google.com/books?id=9ZQqAQAAMAAJ&q=Miles+V.+Sullivan+drinking+bird Bell Laboratories record: Volume 52] 1974</ref> Robert T. Plate got a US Design patent in 1947, that cites Arthur M. Hillery's patent.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://patents.google.com/patent/USD146744 |title = USD146744S - Design for an activated toy bird figure - Google Patents}}</ref> <gallery> File:US250821-Figure 1.png|Israel L. Landis 1881<ref name="US250821" /> File:US253868-Figure 2 and 3.png|Iske Brothers 1881<ref name="US253868" /> File:US2384168-0.png|Arthur M. Hillery, 1944<ref name="US2384168" /> File:US2402463-0.png|Miles V. Sullivan 1945<ref name="US2402463" /> image:Drinking_Bird_Patent_D0146744_crop.png|Robert T. Plate 1947 </gallery>
==Alternative design== In 2003 an alternative mechanism was devised by Nadine Abraham and Peter Palffy-Muhoray of Ohio, USA, that utilizes capillary action combined with evaporation to produce motion, but has no volatile working fluid. Their paper "A Dunking Bird of the Second Kind",<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Abraham|first1=Nadine|last2=Palffy-Muhoray|first2=Peter|date=June 2004|title=A dunking bird of the second kind|url=http://mpalffy.lci.kent.edu/PAPERS/DBPublished.pdf|journal=American Journal of Physics|volume=72|issue=6|pages=782–785|bibcode=2004AmJPh..72..782A|doi=10.1119/1.1703543|access-date=2012-02-19|archive-date=2012-07-10|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120710102559/http://mpalffy.lci.kent.edu/PAPERS/DBPublished.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> was submitted to the ''American Journal of Physics'', and published in June 2004. It describes a mechanism which, while similar to the original drinking bird, operates without a temperature difference. Instead it utilizes a combination of capillary action, gravitational potential difference and the evaporation of water to power the device.
==In popular culture== In Australian playwright John Romeril's play ''The Floating World'', drinking birds are a symbolic prop which represent the progression of Les's insanity.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.australianbookreview.com.au/reading-australia/john-romeril/the-floating-world-by-john-romeril |title=Reading Australia: 'The Floating World' by John Romeril |website=www.australianbookreview.com.au |access-date=22 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150618172429/https://www.australianbookreview.com.au/reading-australia/john-romeril/the-floating-world-by-john-romeril |archive-date=18 June 2015 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
In ''The Simpsons'' episode "King-Size Homer", Homer uses a drinking bird to press the Y key on his nuclear control computer, eventually leading to a nuclear meltdown.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hall |first1=Joshua |title=Homer Economicus: The Simpsons and Economics |date=2014 |publisher=Stanford University Press |isbn=978-0-8047-9182-3 |pages=29−30 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RpQaAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA30 |language=en}}</ref>
==See also== * {{annotated link|Cryophorus}} * {{annotated link|Heat pipe}} * {{annotated link|Minto wheel}} * {{annotated link|Thermodynamics}}
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== * {{cite web |last=Moriarty |first=Philip |year=2009 |title=The Drinking Duck |work=Sixty Symbols |publisher=Brady Haran for the University of Nottingham |url=http://www.sixtysymbols.com/videos/drinkingbird.htm}} * {{Commons category-inline}}
Category:1940s toys Category:Articles containing video clips Category:Birds in popular culture Category:Educational toys Category:Novelty items Category:Office toys Category:Thermodynamics Bird Category:Water toys