Tattoo Machines

History of Tattoo Machines

Thomas Alva Edison is chiefly known as the inventor of the phonograph in Newark, New Jersey, United States in 1876.  It is through this machine’s stylus or, call it, reader that Samuel O'Reilly made modification and applied to inject dyes into the skin in 1891. He replaced the stylus with a needle having a through hole and a small cylinder to supply it with the dye. It employed rotary technology.

Hardly three weeks were over when London’s Thomas Riley came up with a tattoo machine that employed electromagnetic principle in operation.  To be precise, it was just in twenty days that he patented it.  The electromagnet in the machine comprised single coil.  It was thus called single coil tattoo machine.

The modern two-coil electromagnetic tattoo machines got there derivation from Alfred Charles Smith.  He patented this machine in 1899.  Because of its two coil system, it was heavy and it had to prop the hand of tattooist by suspension.  This relieved the hand and improved its manipulation during its operation.

Current two-coil design in tattoo machines is but adjustments to improve artistic precision to control needle pitch or depth, speed, and exerted force.  The number of coils up to 16 has been attained.  Still on improvement of the tattoo art, Carson Hill patented pneumatic tattoo machine in the year 2000. The machine utilized a cushion of air rather than electromagnetism or rotary technology.  This machine runs free from the noise or impact of arcing terminals at the make and break contacts of the electromagnetic induction.

Rotary tattoo machine

This was the first tattoo machine by Samuel O'Reilly.  Rotary technology can be understood by basing our knowledge on the pedestrian sewing machine.  Here the rotary movement of the wheel is converted to reciprocating motion by a crank as shown in a simple illustration using the bold arrows (different colors have been used for clarity).  This gives the machine its name as rotary.

The high frequency of the machine, 12 000 jabs/minute (200 Hz), is set through a compound train of wheels embedded with gears which then eventually translate the motion to the crank. Despite rotary tattoo machines being inferior to others, it has the advantage of being light. It can therefore be manipulated easily. It can also be used as a liner and shader.

Coil tattoo machine

This machine is more superior to rotary type.  The first machine of the coil type was single coiled.  This was not a good type because one terminal of the electromagnet remained ineffective. The improvement began with two coils using a U-shaped core that increased effective magnetic force to attract the soft armature (see figure below).  In order to take the armature back to its resting position, a spring would do this.  The main aim of the armature is to rock the needle carried through its grommet.  In order not dislodge the needle from the hat of the grommet, a rubber band is employed.  

The improvement of tattoo art has caused invention go beyond two coils. Currently coiled magnetic machines boast of up to eight pairs of coils.

The depth of penetration can be adjusted by the use of a wing nut on the frame that changes the effective length of the space between the grommet hat and upper part of the tube.

Liner tattoo machine

This is a coil machine with eight wrap coils.  The purpose of a liner machine is make outlines or boundaries of the tattoo art. 

It is used in upright position. 

Shader tattoo machine

A shader tattoo machine is for color painting or shading of tattoos.  It comes in different colors, shapes and sizes.  It more often than not has ten wrap coils but this can go to sixteen for intricate works.  The additional coils imply that the machine’s power consumption is more than liner tattoo machine for a specific brand of coils each of same power rating.  Generally, the coils are bigger in size making them more massive than liner tattoo machines.

It is used in angular position during tattooing.

Frequency of a 10 wrap coil shader is about 30,000 jabs/min or 500 Hz.

As a point of note, there so many 10 wrap coil machines that are hybrid of liner and shader.  Their naming system is based on shape of the frame, color of the frame, overall machine frame size for a given brand, the material the frame is made of and the number of wrap coils.

Pneumatic tattoo machine

This is the first air-powered tattoo machine that was invented by Carson Hill in 2000.  The coming up of the machine is said to have ushered in a neo-age of creativity, relieve, and safety and to the

tattooee less painful endurance and shorter time to heal.  The pneumatic tattoo machines are lighter than the coil tattoo machines and this makes the tattooist concentrate more on his or her work enabling intricate and neat tattoo finishes.

Contemporary Tattoo Inks

Tattoo inks are dyes or pigments deposited into the skin to give the color of the tattoo by the use of a vehicle or carrier.  This signifies that the tattoo ink as made up of two constituents; that is, the pigment which acts as the base and the thinner acting as the tattoo ink carrier.  The given color of tattoo ink can either be purchased premade (pre-dispersed) or the tattooist can mix two or more colors to obtain one. 

Tattoo ink color

Mixing of colors to get another requires good knowledge of division of colors as primary and secondary colors.

In the world of colored lights, there are three colored lights: red, green and blue.  In order to mix them and see the effect a white screen is opted to obtain:

       

The outcome - yellow, cyan and magenta - of mixing any two primary colored lights is called secondary color.

This is method simulated by computer screen.  It is called color mixing by addition.

When it comes to pigments, the method is different.  This is partial elaboration and the the actual determinants as elucidated as points to towards below. 

A pigment or paint of yellow when mixed with a pigment of cyan in same proportion, green is obtained.  Yellow pigment when illuminated by white light, will absorb all colors other than its constituents, that is, yellow, red and green.  Cyan pigment will absorb all when illuminate by white light and reflect cyan, blue and green.  The two pigments when mixed in same proportion will absorb all lights and reflect the common constituent, that is, green.

This method of mixing pigments where the common constituent color is reflected is called color mixing by subtraction.  This procedure is employed by the color printers.  By mixing pigments in different proportion is thus possible to obtain variant colors up to grey.  It is this that a separate black dye or cartridge accompanies the other three.

Color mixing to come up with desirable colors of tattoo inks is not easy.  The above is just but an approximation.  Tattoo ink mixtures a tattooist can make depends on the parameters like:

       pigment constituents of tattoo ink

       solvents (vehicles) into which tattoo ink thinned

       mixture methods employed

       surfaces qualities on which the mixing is done

       the experience of the tattooist to come up with the appropriate blend of the tattoo ink

Due to the above a tattooist would ensure sufficient tattoo inks in stock to maintain his or her customers by not relying on approximation.  It is cardinal that if a job is worth doing then it is worth doing it well.

When a tattoo ink set is obtained it can be as low as 12 tattoo ink of different colors simple work; for intense and intricate tattooing this number can reach 54 units.

Base tattoo ink, colors and composition

Color	Base tattoo ink
Black	Iron, Nickel, Carbon
Brown	Iron, Azo-chemicals
Red	Mercury, Cadmium , Iron oxide, Ferricyanide
Orange	Cadmium, Azo-chemicals
Yellow	Lead, Cadmium, Zinc, Ferricyanide, Azo-chemicals
Green	Lead, Chromium oxide, Aluminium, Azo-chemicals, Copper, Ferricyanide
Blue	Cobalt, Copper, Ferricyanide
Violet	Aluminium, Azo-chemicals
White	Lead, Zinc oxide, Titanium, Barium

Tattoo ink Carriers or vehicles

Tattoo ink carriers are liquids intended to thin, carry and distribute pigment bases into the dermis uniformly.  These carriers are also supposed to act as disinfectant and increase absorption of tattoo ink into the skin.  Some of tattoo ink carriers include ethanol, water, glycerine, propylene glycol and methanol.

Tattoo ink and health issues

Photo-toxicity is the intoxication of the body due to exposure to light.  Some of the tattoo inks have been reported to cause this.  Allergic reactions and development of cancer due to heavy metals use can occur.

It is important that before you get a tattoo, assess your health before embarking on the type of tattoo ink to use and its composition whether the tattoo ink is safe in your skin.

Temporary tattoos

Temporary tattoos kinds of images made on the body to ape the true tattoos.  They are non-permanent in nature.
Temporary tattoo placement can be by pen-drawn, airbrushed and painted, or transferred by some form of stickers.
These tattoos are of late gaining more and more fame and popularity because their applications are painless when compared to contemporary tattoos.
A specific design in temporary mode comes out more natural; leave alone not only being cheaper to apply.
Temporary tattoos are undoubtedly the easiest to terminate.  An interested individual can put on a tattoo even when pressed with time do long as long as he or she chooses temporary tattoo.  All the tattooee has to know is the wanted tattoo and how long it will stay on him or her.  The tattoo therefore does head for through the extra pang of huge money investment for tattoo removal and tattoo removal aftercare as in laser tattoo removal.
Temporary tattoos of any sort can be utilized for identification, advertisements and expressiveness, just to mention but few.  For instance, a celebrity footballer would wear a certain commercial tattoo on his or her body to enhance a product promotion.
There many forms of temporary tattoos and their nomenclature are by their methods of application or application pigments.

Tattoos

What is a tattoo?

A tattoo is the art of making a picture, design, or other marking on the dermis layer of the skin by pricking ,etching, irradiating or even staining it with an indelible dye for aesthetic, identification  or other reasons.

A Brief History of Tattoo

The history of the word cannot be distinctly associated with any community as the initiator because the word derived from among the Tahitian "tatu" translates to “to mark something"; when we head to the Polynesian 'ta' means “to strike something”.  And in many others the word "tattoo" derivative appear there.  Historically then the art is varied.

Still to consider the origin of this creative art, we must take our thoughts back to the earliest days of the world’s history, and further to the consideration of people oldest of all, yet one that has survived the fall of empires and dynasties, and we are today as characteristic and as full of individuality as there were thousands of years ago the first of history were written.  I allude jokingly to Christianity perspective as perhaps the first tattoo must have been beautifully engraved by Adam on his arm to amuse Eve by the green cashew nut seed.

Leaving that and endeavoring to trace the origin of the art of tattoo to prehistoric age, fragments of literature point the slopes of Alps where a man tattooed remains clocked about five thousand years back.  One of the strangest features in connection with it was that the tattoo was indelible.  Archaeologists put forward the tattoo could have been done with some compound, most likely made of herbs; but whatever this compound may have been, it seemed to have defied the ticking of time.

As human race increased in magnitude, so the art of tattoo spread and were practiced in many countries, kingdom, communities etc.   Name it!

 Even so, it is worth taking a notice that when the period of the Church came and with its powerful Fathers, this art suffered a big blow.  They were jealous of this old-world creative art.  Without wishing to seem partial, one cannot help but remark that the history of any dominant region is the history of the opposition to knowledge or art, unless that art advances from its doctrines.  Tattoo was denounced as idolatry!  The devil was conjured as the master of all forms of tattoos.

In Islamic and Judaism alike, their holy denominational books are quoted to say no to any form of body modification.  Without hammering the bush about, tattoo arts are forbidden by these denominations.

Has the above failed the man fail to tattoo?

No.  Current trend of believers have twisted holy books to be archaic and not man adjusting as technology advances.  The whole idea appears to non-followers (non-enthusiasts) as presumptuous encroachment to the natural law of human diversity in art discipline and growth.

To what does the whole question amount to in tattoo world?

It is proposed to deprive people their innermost expression to reach their tattoo ideals is highest selfishness.

No matter the negligence and evolution, tattoos do not have ill-laden motives but the man himself.

Modern Tattoos

Permanent tattoos

Tattoos are referred to as permanent if after their placement, they retain their images for many years or with very small modification.

Tattoos are given permanence status by placing the pigment or ink into the dermis of the skin, the second layer.  Epidermis, the first layer, is shed off throughout lifetime.

Using tattoo machine, the ink is deposited via needle.  The machine delivers, for instance, 150 jabs per second placing the pigment about 1/8^th inch (3 mm) beneath the skin surface.

Permanent tattoos are removed only by rupturing the skin because they are deeply seated.

Due to the needle-jab factor, permanent tattoos are painful to place.

Semi-permanent tattoos

These are tattoo forms that will remain permanent if undisturbed or those tattoos that will attain three months up to a year.
Semi-permanent tattoos can be sub-divided into to give two categories.
The first category is when the tattoo is done within the epidermis.  Due to natural wearing off of the skin, this tattoo type is shed off.
The second category of the semi-permanent tattoos consists of those done exactly as per permanent tattoos but with a special ink.  InfinitInk, specially formulated is permanent and safe once one is tattooed.  The ink comprises inert plastic beads whose constituents are bioremovable dyes.   It is unfortunate the ink is currently available only in two colors - black and red.
On tattoo removal, the beads are merely ruptured by tattoo removal laser.  As the ink oozes out, the body is takes the mandate of doing the housekeep. 

Temporary tattoos

These are tattoos that are brief in their longevity.  Their application is painless. Your can read more about them here...