Cryptograph (coding and decoding machine) by Sir Charles Wheatstone, 1843-1875
- Made:
- 1843-1875 in United Kingdom
- maker:
- CHARLES WHEATSTONE
Cryptograph (coding and decoding machine) by Sir Charles Wheatstone, unknown maker, British, 1843-1875.
Charles Wheatstone was concerned with the lack of secrecy in messages transmitted by telegraph, as they could be read by operators before being passed on to the intended recipient. For this reason, he devised this instrument, which was designed to encode and decode messages rapidly. Optimistically, he claimed that the code it created was indecipherable by any known method. An initial code word was chosen by the correspondents, and the letter rings and hands rotated to encode the message from this code word.
Details
- Category:
- Telecommunications
- Object Number:
- 1935-588
- Materials:
- wood, silk?, leather, satin, velvet, silver (metal) and copper alloy
- Measurements:
-
Case closed: 125 mm x 120 mm x 15 mm,
- type:
- cryptograph
- credit:
- Donated by Mr. R.L. Atkinson.