WEBVTT - How Do Tattoo Machines Work?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain stuff from how stuff works? A brain

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<v Speaker 1>stuff it's Christian Sager. If you like art, permanence or

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<v Speaker 1>shallow wounds, you may have a tattoo or I don't

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<v Speaker 1>know seven and you're not alone. A Harris pull from

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<v Speaker 1>indicates that here in the US almost fort of adults

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<v Speaker 1>under the age of forty have at least one tattoo.

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<v Speaker 1>So our question for the day is how do tattoo

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<v Speaker 1>machines work? And yes, the preferred industry term is tattoo machines,

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<v Speaker 1>not tattoo guns. As it turns out, the technology used

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<v Speaker 1>to apply tattoos hasn't changed all that much since the

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<v Speaker 1>eighteen nineties. Before then, tattoos were given by tapping or

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<v Speaker 1>just poking needles into the skin by hand. But at

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<v Speaker 1>the turn of the twentie century, two groundbreaking patents were filed.

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<v Speaker 1>Each is basically a motorized array of solid needles connected

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<v Speaker 1>to an ink reservoir. When the needles pierce the skin,

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<v Speaker 1>the tips pull ink from the reservoir into the skin

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<v Speaker 1>and deposit it there. This happens because of surface tension

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<v Speaker 1>and capillary action, you know, the way that water will

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<v Speaker 1>stick a little bit higher up to the sides of

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<v Speaker 1>a glass than its level in the middle. The close

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<v Speaker 1>set needles of a tattooing device act the same way,

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<v Speaker 1>pulling the ink down. Some of it gets trapped in

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<v Speaker 1>the skin and eventually forms the tattoo. But let's look

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<v Speaker 1>at these two different machines, which we should note probably

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<v Speaker 1>weren't the first of their kind ever used, just the

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<v Speaker 1>first to be patented. First, we've got New York City

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<v Speaker 1>tattoo artist Samuel O'Reilly's rotary machine, patented on December eight

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<v Speaker 1>He based the design on an electric pen patented by

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<v Speaker 1>Thomas Edison in eighteen seventy six. The pen would punch

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<v Speaker 1>through paper to create a stencil of your writing, and

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<v Speaker 1>O'Reilly realized it could just as easily punch through skin

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<v Speaker 1>to create a tattoo. O'Reilly's motor is a rotary type,

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<v Speaker 1>meaning that when electricity is applied, a flywheel spins a

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<v Speaker 1>cam which pushes a follower to convert the spinning motion

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<v Speaker 1>into a reciprocating linear motion of the needles. Basically, the

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<v Speaker 1>needles move up and down. It's called reciprocating motion because

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<v Speaker 1>every push down rotates the flywheel with enough force that

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<v Speaker 1>it will keep spinning just enough to pull the needles

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<v Speaker 1>back up to their starting position, ready to be pushed

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<v Speaker 1>down again. This lets the needles move up and down

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<v Speaker 1>very smoothly and rapidly, applying the tattoo more easily than

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<v Speaker 1>most artists could manage via the traditional poking method. However,

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<v Speaker 1>this machine probably isn't what you think of when you

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<v Speaker 1>think of tattooing. Imagine the soundscape of a tattoo parlor

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<v Speaker 1>in your mind's ear. Do you hear a deep piercing buzz. Well,

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<v Speaker 1>that's the noise made by a coil tattoo machine. The

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<v Speaker 1>second design we're going to discuss today. The first patent

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<v Speaker 1>for it was granted on August twenty three, nineteen o four,

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<v Speaker 1>to Charles Wagner. He was another New York City tattoo

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<v Speaker 1>artist who based his device on an Edison electric pen,

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<v Speaker 1>this one driven by electromagnetic coils. These coil designs lean

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<v Speaker 1>heavily on other machines from the eighteen sixties and seventies, telegraphs, doorbells,

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<v Speaker 1>and dental pluggers, which were used to push gold into cavities.

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<v Speaker 1>Believe it or not, the idea is simple. You attach

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<v Speaker 1>a group of needles perpendicular to an armature bar. That

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<v Speaker 1>bar is spring loaded so that it can vibrate up

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<v Speaker 1>and down. When it's in its up position, it completes

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<v Speaker 1>a circuit in the machine that sends electricity through dual

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<v Speaker 1>electromagnetic coils, and that creates an electromagnetic field that pulls

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<v Speaker 1>the bar down, which breaks the circuit and releases the

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<v Speaker 1>bar back to its up position, starting the cycle over again.

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<v Speaker 1>Since the tattoo needles are attached to the bar, the

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<v Speaker 1>vibrations push and pull them up and down. Lots of

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<v Speaker 1>innovators have built on these concepts, making tattoo machines safer,

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<v Speaker 1>more precise, and less painful for both the client and

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<v Speaker 1>the operator, and artists use a few other mechanical designs too.

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<v Speaker 1>Rotaries and coils are just the most common. Check out

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<v Speaker 1>the brainstuff channel on YouTube, and for more on this

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<v Speaker 1>and thousands of other topics, visit how stuff works dot com.