Tattoo Tech

Rick Fichter: A tattoo machine consists of a handheld needle gun that penetrates the skin at a rate of 3000 cycles per minute, not unlike a sewing machine. The needles differ in size and shape and are bundled together on a needle bar in patterns depending on the requirements of the artwork. The unit is attached to a power supply that is activated by depressing a foot pedal on the floor beside the workstation. 

Before the tattoo machine was invented or even a thought, ancient cultures used tools like rose thorns, sharks teeth, and pelican bones to push pigments into the skin. Natural pigments like red ochre and soot were used to provide color. In a tattoo ritual, the Maori, in what is today New Zealand, used a chisel made of bone to cut lines and shapes in the skin. After the lines were cut, the Maori tapped the chisel, with the edge dipped in pigment, into the lines.

The first electric tattoo machine was invented, unknowingly, by Thomas Edison. In 1876 Edison received a patent for the electric pen. While carbon paper goes back to the early 19th century, it was impossible for an individual to make more than a few copies of a letter or document at a time. The electric pen used a small motor to drive a needle up and down the shaft of the pen. As the user wrote, the pen created a stencil that could be easily copied. In essence, like having a printer. Patents for tattoo machines were filed less than ten years later by different individuals, each adding their own improvements.

Samuel O’Reilly is credited with the “electric pen”, a device built from the Edison blueprints in 1891. The only thing O’Reilly changed from the Edison version was that he added an ink reservoir.  The machine we use today was first patented by Charlie Wagner, which was called a dual coil reciprocating engraver, especially made for tattooing. While Wagner's invention has stood the test of time, some 130 years, there's a new kid in town. 

With absolute control and accuracy in mind, Cheyenne has introduced the biggest innovation in the tattoo industry – the Cheyenne Hawk Pen. This rotary machine is specially designed to closely resemble an actual pen, which will facilitate even more precise tattoo procedures than before. 

Tech? I know right? Those of you who know me are wondering if it's another Invasion of the Body Snatchers; like the Pod People have taken control over Old School Rick. I mean, maybe... First, it was my iPad Pro, now a whole new inventory of high tech rotary tattoo engravers that are easy to sanitize and are less painful for the canvas.

Oh my God, what will happen in the next exciting chapter of The Further Adventures of Rick Fichter? An Apple Watch? A Prius? No... calm your heart. Just even better tattoos.