The Happy Drinking Bird

Hey folks, just a quick post about this nifty little novelty item I bought a few months ago and only decided to try it out today. LoL. I saw the box and instantly had the urge to try it out, and so I did. Over 14 hours later it's still going! It will keep going as long as there is water in the glass for it to tip into.

And there it goes!

The perpetual-motion of the Drinking Bird is a combination of the water evaporating from the bird's head (effectively cooling it down), pressure inside the tube due to the temperature change, and the use of gravity. Pretty cool. =) The birds with the red fluid are more traditional, but fade in sunlight easily. The blue (being my favourite colour and the actual reason why I chose it) is less prone to fading.

Many of you have probably seen it first on an episode of The Simpsons, when Homer used it to continually press the "Y" key (for "Yes") on his work-at-home computer. The computer controlled the necessary venting of toxic fumes for the Springfield nuclear power plant. Homer used the Drinking Bird so that he no longer had to stay seated at the computer to monitor the pressure, since all he had to do was keep pressing "Y" to vent the gas when the pressure became too high. He then neglects to check on the bird and it eventually falls over, creating a dangerous critical-pressure state at the nuclear power plant. LoL.

Personally, the first time I remember seeing it was long before The Simpsons, on an episode of Loony Tunes. Tweety Bird sees it drinking water and, thinking it's a real bird, joins it in the "water drinking". Tweety also took the nodding movements of the Drinking Bird as conversational nodding. Haha. I found that hilarious as a kid. =]

I don't know what I find fascinating about such a simple little thing, but I sometimes find myself mesmerized by it's hypnotic back-and-forth rocking motion and it's endless thirst for water, and catch myself watching it for a couple of minutes or so. LOL.

Well, it's best that you all know that most of the Drinking Birds contain Methylene Chloride (also known as Dichloromethane). This is a chemical used in paint stripper liquid and will badly damage paintwork and most plastics. So be wary of where you place it, and be careful not to let young children or pets play near it!

You can get your very own magical Drinking Bird at this website.

The drinking bird was invented by Miles V. Sullivan in 1945 and patented in 1946. He was a Ph.D. inventor-scientist at Bell labs in Murray Hill, NJ, USA.

Until Next Time,
- The Temporal Guardian -