How the tattoo machine works
The principles behind the tattoo machine are old and are based on the use of electromagnetic charges. The tattoo machine is always connected to a power source, and this means an electrical current is always going through the machine whey you are using it.
There are two coils in the machine that become magnetized when the power source is switched on; these two coils are most often made from copper or something similar). When the coils are magnetized they draw the armature bar into the down position; it is the armature bar that moves the needle up and down. When the armature bar is down it punctures the skin and deposits the ink. The fact that the armature bar has been drawn down means that it has separated from its contact so that it no longer has an electrical charge. This means that the armature bar moves back to the up position, where the current is once again stabilized.
On a side note, you may be interested to hear that the tattoo machine is credited with being invented by Thomas Edison in 1876. That is not to say that he was interested in making tattoos though, in fact the first machines were designed to be used for engraving. It was Samuel O’Reilly who discovered that it could be used to make tattoos; that was in 1891. Samuel O’Reilly made quite a few adaptations to the machine and these adaptations can still be seen in the tattoo machine of today.
When the armature bar is once again in the up position the current can be reestablished and this causes the needle to once again go through the skin and deposit ink; the process continues like this until the work on the tattoo is complete.
This electromagnetic process occurs many thousands of times during the process of getting or creating a tattoo. The noise that you hear that in a tattoo parlor, the one that sounds like a hum, is the starting and stopping of the electrical current in the machine.
At the end of tattoo machine is a cone shaped piece and it is through this piece that the needles are forced out of as the head of the tattoo machine is moved along the design on the skin. Later in this book we will discuss about how deep into the skin you will need to go in order to get the ink to take properly.
