The pneumatics of Hero of Alexandria

Chapter 48: 44. Notes produced from several Birds in succession, by a Stream of Water.

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About This Book

A systematic practical handbook of machines and demonstrations that uses air, steam, heat, and water to produce mechanical effects. The text gives clear descriptions, construction details, and diagrams for siphons, valves, pumps, fountains, jets, self‑acting mechanisms, and ritual or theatrical contrivances driven by pressure and temperature changes. Explanations focus on the mechanical principles behind pneumatic and hydraulic behaviors and on ways to control flow and timing, with numbered propositions that pair instructional steps with illustrative figures for building and operating each apparatus.

44. Notes produced from several Birds in succession, by a Stream of Water.

Sounds are produced at intervals in another way as follows. A vessel is taken (fig. 44), provided with several transverse partitions. In the chambers are placed siphons conducting into the chambers beneath, the streams through them being unequal. In the lower compartment is placed the pipe which produces the sound, and the stream of water falls into the upper compartment. It will be found that when the upper chamber is filled, the water passes through the siphon placed there into the chamber below, until it has arrived at the lowest, and the vessel being air-tight, the air in this chamber is driven out through the pipe and produces the sound.