History of the Airbrush


1879 - How it works
Foot pump
Air feed to Paint Distributor

Air is pumped by means of a footpump
and charges a specially designed container

By squeezing the handle air enters
the instrument under pressure

Diagram 1
Diagram 2
  • 1 Pressured air leaves one pipe..
  • 2 ..and spins the windwheel which has the needle fixed off centre
  • 3 ..as a result the needle moves back into the spoon and collects some yellow ink
  • 4 Then the needle returns, passing through the ink and collecting some colour at the tip
  • 5 The air which is also blowing out of the second pipe blows a little colour off each time the needle passes in front of it.


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Airbrush History site © Andy Penaluna 2001

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