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.  Franklins 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 ones hand would cause the water to flow into the empty bulb.  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.
In 1881 Israel L. Landis got a patent for a similar oscillating motor.
A year later (1882), the Iske brothers got a patent for a similar motor.
Unlike the drinking bird, the lower tank was heated and the upper tank just air-cooled in this engine. Other than that, it used the same principle. The Iske brothers during that time got various patents on a related engine which is now known as Minto wheel.
A Chinese drinking bird toy dating back to 1910s~1930s named insatiable birdie is described in Yakov Perelmans Physics for Entertainment. The book explained the "insatiable" mechanism: "Since the headtubes temperature becomes lower than that of the tail reservoir, this causes a drop in the pressure of the saturated vapours in the head-tube ..." 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.
In addition, the Japanese professor of toys, Takao Sakai, from Tohoku University, also introduced this Chinese toy.
Arthur M. Hillery got a US patent in 1945. Arthur M. Hillery suggested the use of acetone as working fluid.
It was again patented in the US by Miles V. Sullivan in 1946.
He was a Ph.D. inventor-scientist at Bell Labs in Murray Hill, NJ, USA. Robert T. Plate got a US Design patent in 1947, that cities Arthur M. Hillerys patent.