The origins of the modern tattoo machine can be traced back to Thomas Edison, owner of more than 1,000 patents, and inventor of the telegraph, phonograph, and incandescent lamps. While Edison did not invent a machine specific for tattooing, his 1876 design for an electromagnetic stenciling device is similar to the earliest tattoo guns. Edison's rotary-based machine would punch holes into paper placed over the intended surface before dusting paint over the hole, thus stenciling a design. Fifteen years later, that design would inspire the world's first electric tattoo gun.
Samuel O'Reilly, a tattoo artist in New York, is credited with filing the first patent for an electric tattoo machine in 1891. Until then, tattoo artists used quick, repetitive hand movements to puncture the skin. This was a technique that proved painstaking and required many years to master. Mechanically-inclined O'Reilly was inspired by Thomas Edison, and based his earliest tattoo gun designs on Edison's embroidery device. The new machine proved revolutionary in the United States and by 1900, there were tattoo parlors in every major city.
Due to his success with the first electric tattoo machine, Samuel O'Reilly was obliged to take on an apprentice, Charlie Wagner. In 1904, Wagner patented a tattooing machine based on O'Reilly's and Edison's devices which included an ink reservoir, an "on/off" switch, and a pin-vice bar for the needle. With his improved machines, Wagner went on to a prolific career as a tattoo artist, and created body art for myriad customers, including soldiers, circus performers, and even the aristocracy. In addition to his machine innovations, Wagner is credited with having a great impact on classic American tattoo styles.
The first "modern" tattoo gun, as it may be recognized today, was patented in 1929 by Percy Waters of Detroit, Michigan. Like its predecessors, Waters' design is also a two-coil electromagnetic device, though he aligned the coils with the frame. Other changes to the original machines included an "on/off" switch set at the fingertips, a spark shield, and a needle for stencil cutting. Waters was not a tattoo artist, however, but a manufacturer who made a successful business supplying his new machines to the growing tattoo industry.
In 1979, a new patent was awarded to Carol Nightingale of Washington, D.C. for an original and more complex tattoo machine. His design includes fully adjustable coils, and leaf springs of different lengths for different work; however, the most commonly-used machines still stem from Waters' design. Changes to the modern tattoo gun have largely been in tattoo materials, affecting such aspects as needle amplitude, vibration and power. Small innovations in the modern tattoo machine have allowed for a greater range of applications, including the performance of more delicate work such as permanent makeup.