Thomas Edison and the Tattoo Revolution
by Laura Molina, Alejandra Mourin and ChatGPT
There’s something in life that we call coincidence, divine intervention, or just being in the right place at the right time. That’s the case with Thomas Edison. He seemed to be there many times, in more places than you can imagine.
Of course, we all know who Thomas Edison is — the famous inventor of the lightbulb, the phonograph, the electric power meter, and the list goes on. But did you know he influenced one of the most judged art forms in the world? Tattoos. Yes, Edison influenced the tattoo industry in quite an unexpected way. He was one of the inventors who helped pave the way for the mechanical tattoo machine.
In 1876, Thomas Edison patented the first electric pen (No.180857). The idea was to create a practical, small machine that made it easier to produce copies of the same document. Before this, we had the Gutenberg press, but the amount of work and space required to operate one of those machines was far from practical for everyday folks. By the 19th century, people needed a way to produce documents more affordably and efficiently.
Thomas Edison Autographic Printing Patent No.180857
That’s where Thomas Edison and Charles Batchelor, Edison’s assistant, came in. Together, they invented the electric pen. It had a small electric motor at the top that turned a cam. The cam moved a needle up and down, perforating paper to create a stencil. This stencil allowed for repeated inking onto other surfaces.
Even though great hopes were placed on this invention, as the first known functional mechanical motor of its kind the pen wasn’t very popular. The instructions were difficult to understand, and the machine was too fragile for inexperienced users. People needed something simpler. Still, it was an incredible first step!
Years later, the electric pen —no longer serving its original purpose, found new life in the tattoo industry. In 1891, Samuel O’Reilly patented what’s recognized as the first mechanical tattoo machine. It’s important to note that his wasn’t the first-ever tattoo machine but it was the first one patented. There’s evidence that artists used electrically powered tattoo machines before 1891. In fact, O’Reilly himself had earlier created a tattoo machine from modified dental pluggers, and there are photos of other variations made from Edison’s electric pen.
There’s always a beginning. Maybe Thomas Edison isn’t the first name that comes to mind when we think about the origins of rotary tattoo machines, but here we are —proving that one person’s trash can become another’s treasure. Let’s hear it for all those “not-so-popular” inventions that pushed the field forward, one step at a time.
Samuel O’Reilly’s electrically tattoo machine patent US464,801
A fair stop...
Did you know the Gutenberg press revolutionized printing in the 15th century? The Gutenberg printing press was a movable-type printing press invented by Johannes Gutenberg in the 1440s. Before its invention, the printing process was done entirely by hand and was obviously slow, producing an average of only 40 pages per day. With the Gutenberg press, production skyrocketed to up to 3,600 pages a day.
This sped up the production of printed materials dramatically, spreading literacy and education across Europe. On top of that, the affordability of mass-produced books made them accessible to the common man, and censorship became much more difficult to enforce.