Cryptography Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 2.4:
Wiring diagram of a rotor machine.
Rotor machines were registered for patent by several inventors around 1920;
every country first lists the most patriotic inventor (Arthur Scherbius, 1918,
is most frequently quoted in connection with the Enigma). The disks used in
these machines are referred to as
drums
or
rotors
.
2.5.1 Structure and Significance of the Enigma
The most famous representative of rotor machines is the
Enigma
machine
that was later used in the German Wehrmacht. Some details (such as how the
mechanics worked, how the plugboard was built, etc.) are not important for
our purposes. We just want to understand its principle, and we mainly want to
see how it was cracked.
