Tattoo machine

"[1] The predecessor to the tattoo machine was Thomas Edison's electric pen, patented under the title Stencil-Pens in Newark, New Jersey, United States in 1876.

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.

His machine was functionally similar to O'Reilly's except an electric DC motor, rather than electrified magnets, drove the needles.

Such advances in precision have also produced a style of facial tattooing that has attained mainstream popularity in America called dermapigmentation, or "permanent cosmetics" creating results such as addition/removal of freckles, beauty spots and scars.

The longer-stroked machines are good for coloring and shading, as well as sculpting lines, while doing less damage to clients' skin.

Shorter-stroke machines are commonly used for lining in a single pass style, and also in a shader setup to achieve a more subtle gradation of black such as would be found in portraits.

Length, width, tension, angle, and stiffness of the spring varies the functionality of the machine.

This allows artists to control the voltage at which their machines operate at and can be manipulated to achieve line variation.

Frames are constructed from a wide variety of materials such as brass, iron, steel, zinc, and aluminum.

Other lighter frames (such as those constructed from aluminum and zinc) reduce the physical strain on artists during operation.

[10] Rotary machines consist of about seven different parts including but not limited to the grip, tube, cam wheel, “adjustment mechanism”, and a power connection.

Pneumatic rotary machines, as their name implies, utilize compressed air to directly oscillate the tattoo needle and do not use an electric motor whatsoever.