Tattoo History - Samuel O'Reilly
Samuel O'Reilly
On December 8th 1891, Samuel O'Reilly, cousin of the successful British tattoo artist Tom Riley, patented his Tattoo Machine which was a modified version of Edison's 1876 introduced "Autographic Printing Pen".
This invention was the reason the technique of the natives, which was still used by western tattooists to apply tattoos on Sailors, disappeared almost over night. The electro mechanic of the O'Reilly tattoo machine definitely had it advantages. Tattooing now was no longer a painful and long process with needles attached to a stick.
O'Reilly's tattooing experience and his knowledge of technic and mechanic paid off. He had endless appointments and even made house calls for exclusive ladies and gentlemen who wouldn't want to be seen in his 1875 founded tattoo studio in Chinatown, New York City. O'Reilly's success held on until the end of the decade and famous future artists like Charles Wagner were apprentices in O'Reilly's studio.
His creativity decreased and young and inspired artists overtook him with their potential. But not only that. Other artists developed similar machines and O'Reilly spent a lot of time and money suing those copycats but without any success.
He died in 1908 by falling of a ladder while painting his house in the Bronx.
Until today, his invention is, with just a few minor adjustments responsible for tattoos in studios all over the world.
Know your history better than we do? Then let us know and e-mail us any additions you might have. If you know about an important event or a person influencing tattoo history that we missed out on... we wanna know about it too!
