History of the Tattoo Machine
The first tattoo gun to be discovered was by a Danish inventor named Oersted in 1819 and it was battery operated.
The technology used to make modern tattoo machines has come a long way, however. While O'Reilly's machine was based on the rotary technology of Edison's engraving device, modern tattoo machines use electromagnets. The first machine based on this technology was a single coil machine patented by Thomas Riley of London, just twenty days after O'Reilly filed the patent for his rotary machine. For his machine, Riley placed a modified door bell assembly in a brass box. The modern two coil configuration was patented by Alfred Charles South, also of London. Because it was so heavy, a spring was often attached to the top of the machine and the ceiling to take most of the weight off the operator's hand.
Most modern tattoo machines can control needle depth, speed, and force of application, which has allowed tattooing to become a very precise art form. Such advancements in precision have also produced a style of facial tattooing that has attained mainstream popularity in America called dermapigmentation, or "permanent cosmetics". (Wikipedia - Tattoo Machine)
Samuel O'Reilly's Tattoo Machine
Samuel O'Reilly was a Tattoo Artist who worked out of a studio he ran in the Chinatown District the Bowery in 1875. At this time, tattooing was made with hand Tattooing methos using wooden grips with needles attached, which were used to tap the skin as the hand moved along (which is still the systematic method used in Polynesian tattooing indeed).
As Laziness is the Mother of Invention, plus the fact that O'Reilly was an able Engineer, he invented a Machine to do the job of puncturing the skin by moving the needles in an out. He reasoned that if a machine could do this properly, then a tattoo artist would be able to tattoo as fast as he could draw. This would mean less work and more money.
The Machine was a Success and he made himself a decent Fortune from his invention.
Charles Wagner became O'Reilly's Apprentice and they both worked side by side working the m,assive queues of Navy men who were draughtees in the War, and spending their money on twhat Sailors spend it on (women whisky and tattoos). This meant big business during the War because 50% of the Male population was draughted
Below; The Carol Nightingale 'Electrical Marking Device' Patent Design from 1979.
This was before the advent of thicker Grips on the Tubes becoming popular, and Machine Frames were very large and heavy in those days, which must have made for a lot of aching thumb muscles for beginners. I myself remember the old thin Huck Spaulding Liner Tubes from my Teacher and how they made my Hand ache. They were always the last tubes i would take from the Sterilizer, when all of my favorites had been used and that wass all that was left.
Percy Waters Was for me a Historic and Legendary Figure, whose Biography i Enjoyed reading with great fervor. As i was first Apprenticed to Tattooing in the late Eighties and early Nineties, The Old School Community was still in Effect, and the Mainstream Boom was only in its first Waking Slumber back then in Kreuzberg, Berlin. My teachers believed that the first thing an Apprentice must do is pay his dues and prove he was really dedicated and interested enough. To know your History is to know your Career Trajectory, and so i was made to learn about the lives and Careers and works of the great Tattooists of the Past, especially Ed Hardy, Lyle Tuttle, Percy Waters, and Sailor Jerry Collins, amongst a host of other Great Names who modern Tattoo kids probably never heard of (because they weren't made to read about them).
Sailor Jerry Collins - American Tattoo Master
Sailor Jerry invented the Magnum Shader for example, and also found many of the base pigments we still use today for bright colors. The book which publishes an interplay of letters between Sailor Jerry and Ed Hardy on the Mainland (Sailor Jerry was in Hawaii), are an insight into the development of American Classic Traditional Tattooing and a testament to the Character of these two Great Legends of American Tattooing
Don Ed Hardy
