The Enigma

machine

BRIEF INFORMATION

IT WAS A LARGE TYPEWRITER-

STYLE MACHINE THAT WAS
DEVELOPED BY SCHERBIUS' FIRST
COMPANY SCHERBIUS & RITTER
OF BERLIN-WANSEE.
FUNCTION
IT ALLOWED AN OPERATOR TO
TYPE IN A MESSAGE, THEN
SCRAMBLE IT BY USING THREE TO
FIVE NOTCHED WHEELS, OR
ROTORS, WHICH DISPLAYED
DIFFERENT LETTERS OF THE
ALPHABET.
THE RECEIVER NEEDED TO KNOW
THE EXACT SETTINGS OF THESE
ROTORS IN ORDER TO
RECONSTITUTE THE CODED TEXT.
Inventor / User /
Period
It was widely used by Nazi Germany. Also, this
machine was widely used in the World War II.
It was invented by Arthur Scherbius, a German
engineer, who developed his 'Enigma' machine,
capable of transcribing coded information, in the
hope of interesting commercial companies in secure
communications.
Enigma machine was invented by right at the end of
World War I.
In 1923 he set up his Cipher Machines Corporation in
Berlin to manufacture his product. Within three
years the German navy was producing its own
version, followed by the army in 1928 and the air
force in 1933.