Jefferson roller
The Jefferson roller is a tool for encrypting and decrypting messages. It was developed by Thomas Jefferson around 1790 .
The " cipher wheel " is a 4.8 centimeter thick and 14.4 centimeter long wooden cylinder. This cylinder consists of 36 numbered discs that are 0.4 centimeters wide and the edges of which are divided into 26 equal sections for the 26 letters . The order of the discs is decisive for the encryption and decryption and must be the same for the sender and receiver . The text is set in one line and the roller is locked. The discs show 25 encrypted lines from which the sender can select one for transmission. The recipient adjusts the slices of his cylinder so that he receives the same sequence of letters as the message in one line. The clear message is then also under the other 25 lines.
Due to the different arrangement of the 26 letters of the alphabet there are
possible different discs. If an unauthorized person is in possession of the same 36 targets as the transmitter, they still exist
Ways to arrange them.
The Jefferson roller was ahead of its time, but was not used by Jefferson himself, nor by the armed forces or diplomatic corps of the time. It wasn't until around 120 years later that a variant of the device was introduced to the US armed forces , the M-94 cipher cylinder .
literature
- Fred B. Wrixon: Secret Languages. Codes, ciphers and cryptosystems. From hieroglyphs to the digital age. Ullmann, Königswinter 2007, ISBN 978-3-8331-4432-5 .