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Jackrabbit

Home of The Big Drinking Bird.


   Jack With Big Drinking Bird
Big Drinking Bird - QuickTime Movie


Big Bird - vertical    Big Bird - horizontal

Detail of head - vertical    Detail of head - horizontal
Photos ©2010 Jack C. Furlow


When not Clampin' or creating websites,
I enjoy making Kinetic Sculptures.

This Art project is called "Big Drinking Bird."

Remember the little "Drinking Bird" toy?
Well, this one is over eight feet tall
and weighs about four hundred pounds.

This hydraulic-powered kinetic sculpture was
built of welded steel; using half-inch and quarter-inch plate,
as well as sheetmetal for the hat and beak, and
four & five-inch diameter steel pipe for the neck.

Empty propane tanks were used for the head and body
and an old leaf-rake serves as the "tail feathers."

The hydraulic actuator was made of four-inch ABS pipe,
half-inch plastic tubing, and a small submersible pump.


Principle of operation:
As water is pumped through the plastic tubing
from the 55 gallon barrel into the ABS Actuator
pipe, the Bird becomes increasingly top-heavy.
This causes the Bird to tilt forward until the water spills
back into the barrel, where the cycle is repeated again.
 
Hatched at the
San Jose State University
Metal Foundry.
San Jose, California.
Spring 2001

Hear BIRD SONG

Great Links:

Miles Sullivan, inventor of the original "Drinking Bird" toy.

Dippy-Drinking-Birds.

Drinking Birds.




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