WEBVTT - BrainStuff Classics: How Do Tattoo Machines Work?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff from How Stuff Works. Hi, brain Stuff,

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<v Speaker 1>I'm Lauren voke Bam, and I've got a classic brain

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<v Speaker 1>Stuff episode for you today. This one is on how

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<v Speaker 1>tattoo machines sometimes called tattoo guns work. Our former host,

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<v Speaker 1>Christian Sager, will explain ay brain Stuff, it's Christian Sager.

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<v Speaker 1>If you like art, permanence or shallow wounds, you may

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<v Speaker 1>have a tattoo or I don't know seven and you're

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<v Speaker 1>not alone. A Harris pull from indicates that here in

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<v Speaker 1>the US almost fort of adults under the age of

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<v Speaker 1>forty have at least one tattoo. So our question for

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<v Speaker 1>the day is how do tattoo machines work? And yes,

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<v Speaker 1>the preferred industry term is tattoo machines, not tattoo guns.

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<v Speaker 1>As it turns out, the technology used to apply tattoos

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<v Speaker 1>hasn't changed all that much since the eighteen nineties. Before then,

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<v Speaker 1>tattoos were given by tapping or just coaking needles into

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<v Speaker 1>the skin by hand. But at the turn of the

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<v Speaker 1>twentieth century, two groundbreaking patents were filed. Each is basically

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<v Speaker 1>a motorized array of solid needles connected to an ink reservoir.

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<v Speaker 1>When the needles pierced the skin. The tips pull ink

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<v Speaker 1>from the reservoir into the skin and deposited there. This

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<v Speaker 1>happens because of surface tension and capillary action, you know,

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<v Speaker 1>the way that water will stick a little bit higher

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<v Speaker 1>up to the sides of a glass than its level

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<v Speaker 1>in the middle. The close set needles of a tattooing

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<v Speaker 1>device act the same way, pulling the ink down. Some

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<v Speaker 1>of it gets trapped in the skin and eventually forms

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<v Speaker 1>the tattoo. But let's look at these two different machines,

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<v Speaker 1>which we should note probably weren't the first of their

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<v Speaker 1>kind ever used, just the first to be patented. First,

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<v Speaker 1>we've got New York City tattoo artist Samuel O'Reilly's rotary machine,

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<v Speaker 1>patented on December eight He based the design on an

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<v Speaker 1>electric pen patented by Thomas Edison in eighteen seventy six.

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<v Speaker 1>The pen would punch through paper to create a stencil

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<v Speaker 1>of your writing, and O'Reilly realized it could just as

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<v Speaker 1>easily punch through skin to create a tattoo. O'Reilly's motor

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<v Speaker 1>is a rotary type, meaning that when electricity is applied,

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<v Speaker 1>a flywheel spins a cam which pushes a follower to

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<v Speaker 1>convert the spinning motion into a reciprocating linear motion of

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<v Speaker 1>the needles. Basically, the needles move up and down. It's

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<v Speaker 1>called reciprocating motion because every push down rotates the flywheel

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<v Speaker 1>with enough force that it will keep spinning just enough

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<v Speaker 1>to pull the needles back up to their starting position,

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<v Speaker 1>ready to be pushed down again. This lets the needles

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<v Speaker 1>move up and down very smoothly and rapidly, applying the

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<v Speaker 1>tattoo more easily than most artists could manage via the

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<v Speaker 1>traditional poking method. However, this machine probably isn't what you

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<v Speaker 1>think of when you think of tattooing. Imagine the soundscape

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<v Speaker 1>of a tattoo parlor in your mind's ear. Do you

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<v Speaker 1>hear a deep, piercing buzz. Well, that's the noise made

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<v Speaker 1>by a coil tattoo machine, the second design we're going

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<v Speaker 1>to discuss today. The first patent for it was granted

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<v Speaker 1>on August twenty three, nineteen o four, to Charles Wagner.

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<v Speaker 1>He was another New York City tattoo artist who based

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<v Speaker 1>his device on an Edison electric pen, this one driven

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<v Speaker 1>by electromagnetic coils. These coil designs lean heavily on other machines.

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<v Speaker 1>From the eighteen sixties and seventies telegraphs, doorbells, and dental pluggers,

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<v Speaker 1>which were used to push gold into cavities. Believe it

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<v Speaker 1>or not, the idea is simple. You attach a group

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

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<v Speaker 1>spring loaded so that it can vibrate up and down.

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<v Speaker 1>When it's in its up position, it completes a circuit

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<v Speaker 1>in the machine that sends electricity through dual electromagnetic coils

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<v Speaker 1>and that create it's an electromagnetic field that pulls the

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

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<v Speaker 1>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. Today's episode

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<v Speaker 1>was produced by Tyler Clang and written by me for

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<v Speaker 1>Brainstuff's YouTube series. If you enjoy our show and want

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<v Speaker 1>t public dot com, slash brain stuff, and of course,

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