Powerhouse Museum Collection Search 2.5
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Currently on public display
+ Cyberworlds Exhibition
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+ World War II
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94/90/1 Cipher machine, Enigma, wood / metal / Bakelite, Chiffreurmachine Company, Berlin, Germany, 1940.
Images: 01 02 03 04 05

Production Notes include information about the design, manufacture and marketing of an object. Production notes
Original design by German engineer Arthur Scherbius. It was then modified by the Wermacht (German army), names of the later designers are unknown.

The commercial machine was made by the Chiffreirmachine Company of Berlin and it quite probable that the Wehrmacht machines were made, or at least assembled, there. This cannot be verified at this stage.

The first Enigma machine was patented in 1919 but was continually modified until the end of World War II.

 This text content licensed under CC BY-NC.

Description
Cipher machine, Enigma, wood / metal / Bakelite, Chiffreurmachine Company, Berlin, Germany, 1940.

Wehmacht (German army) type in a dark beige painted metal casing. The top consists of three 1 - 26 numbered rotors, a Bakelite switch with two options, and a keyboard of letters in the configurations: QWERTZUIO, ASDFGHJK, PYXCVBNML the keys are made of metal and black Bakelite with white letters. The display/or lamp board above shows same letters, this can be lifted by unscrewing two round nuts located on the sides of the display board to reveal three rows of lamps which light up the letters, three numbered wheels and switching gear. On the front face of the housing is a plug board with connector holes for each letter and ten connector cables which are plugged into various letters.

The whole assemblage fits tightly into an oak carry case with a hinged lid and fall front which is secured by way of two small metal hooks on the sides of the case, and a metal fold-in handle. Inside the lid is a white Bakelite label with German text printed in black, two spare plug cables 3 spare bulbs and a strip of black Bakelite screwed onto the lid.

Depressing the key for a given letter causes a signal for that letter to pass through the three rotors and the plug board. This operation causes a cascade of substitutions for the original letter. In this manner a message can be coded that can only be retrieved by being played back through the same sequence of substitutions.

Designer: Scherbius, Arthur; Germany

Maker: Ciffreurmachine Company; Germany; 1919 - 1945
Marks
-1. Cipher machine: metal plate: A//jla/. White bakelite label: Nur Gluhlampen mit 12mm/Durchmesser verwenden. -2. Wooden carry case: inside: printed: Klappe/SchlieBen. Metal plate: A20662.
The Registration Number of an object is a unique identifying number applied by the museum at the point of acquisition. Current numbering format comprises the year of acquisition, followed by a sequential number. For example, '2007/45' is the Registration Number that represents the 45th acquisition in the year 2007. Registration number
94/90/1
Height
155 mm
Width
280 mm

 This text content licensed under CC BY-SA.
Acquisition credit line
Purchased 1994

This object record is currently incomplete. The information available may date back as far as 125 years. Other information may exist in a non-digital form. The Museum continues to update and add new research to collection records.
Subjects:
+ World War II
Currently on public display
+ Cyberworlds Exhibition


Copyright
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