Dolphin Fountain

After making sculptures out of tube for several years, it occurred to me that I could pump water, etc. through the them. These images show the progression from a sculpture in Copper wire, to successively more complex prototypes in Copper and stainless steel tube, and finally some renderings of what half-size and full-size fountains might look like.

This is my first prototype, It is about 30 cm long, and made from 3 mm diameter copper wire
This was my first functional prototype, made from 3/8″ Copper tube.
This was my first piece made from stainless steel. I TIG welded all of the joints, and turned the nozzles in brass.

I tried 8 pumps before I found one with the right balance of head/pressure, and flow!
Sculpture from the previous image (1/4″ stainless steel tube) on a stand made from 1″ square tube.
Here is a schematic diagram of a full-scale version of the fountain.
Stylized diagram of the surface-layer of a dolphin’s muscles used as the basis for my composition.

Reference material on dolphin musculature was scarce, so I sought help from one of the world’s preeminent dolphin anatomists.
My second stainless-steel prototype (3/8″ tube). Includes a secondary set of nozzles which squirt up from inside the pool.
I used to cart this fountain around to every craft show I did.
Computer rendering of a full-sized fountain.
Photo of plumbing of second stainless steel fountain
Rendering of computer model of second prototype.
Rendering of second prototype in which you can clearly see the plumbing for the secondary nozzles, which create ambient spray around the dolphin.
Half-scale fountain rendering
Half-scale dolphin fountain rendering
Half-scale fountain rendering
Half-scale dolphin fountain rendering
Closeup of plumbing for half-scale fountain.

I learned you can arrange pumps in series to achieve greater pressure, or in parallel to achieve greater flow.
Closeup of plumbing for half-scale fountain.
First part of 1/2-scale dolphin fountain (5/8″ stainless tube).
Parts for a full-scale fountain sitting on the jig that I made for bending.
Design for a nozzle in which the tubes which support the dolphin and supply it with water are concealed by the outflowing water jet.
Section view of prototype nozzle.
Here’s a photo of my prototype nozzle, machined by my friend Todd.

Spray from the nozzle formed a perfect cone as expected, but unfortunately, surface tension caused it to pull right back together. All attempts to mitigate this effect by adding features to break-up the stream were unsuccessful.