Historical Document · 1981
The Story of the Hagelin Cryptos
Hagelin's own memoir of AB Cryptograph, Damm, the B-21, C-35/C-38, the M-209 and Crypto AG.
Historical Document · 1981
Hagelin's own memoir of AB Cryptograph, Damm, the B-21, C-35/C-38, the M-209 and Crypto AG.
HAQEUN-CRTPTOSI, CRYPTO AG The Story of the HAGEUN-CRYPTOS 1 ' . ^1 3E720 THE STORY OF THE "HAGELIN CRYPTOS" Page Introduction I. The Beginning 5 II. The First Machines 15 III. The B - 2 11 Machine 21 I V. The C-Machines V. The Te l e c r y p t o VI. Miscellaneous Concluding Machines Machines Observations , i -i- 24 39 4 3 55 J ;C ~^T~^ruxS<3 ^H!<*^£w\ <t ^ 3E720 ^ The Story of the "HAGELIN CRYPTOS" INTRODUCTION The "Story of the Hagelin Cryptos" could never have been written if Russia after the revolution had become a democratic republic. The expected defeat of the Bolshevik minority and the return of a moderate government would have caused me to remain an employee of the Nobel Brothers Oil Production Company, and there would have been no CRYPTO AG - the present manufacturer of ciphering machines. D I was born on July 2nd, 1892 in Adschikent, a small summer resort in the Russian Aserbeidjan. My father, a Swede who had been born in St. Petersburg in 1860, was at that time manager o f t h e N o b e l c o m p a n y ' s o i l fi e l d s a n d r e fi n e r i e s i n B a k u . He had joined the company in 187 9 when it was founded by an older brother of the famous Alfred Nobel. My father was made a director of the company in 1899, and moved with his family to St. Petersburg. I went to a Russian school until 1904, w h e n m y f a t h e r s e n t m e t o a S w e d i s h s c h o o l . A f t e r fi n i s h i n g t h i s s c h o o l I e n t e r e d t h e R o y a l Te c h n i c a l U n i v e r s i t y i n S t o c k holm where I graduated in 1914 with a degree in mechanical engineering. It was taken for granted that my future would lie in Russia with the company, where my father held a leading position and had become the closest friend of Emanuel Nobel, h e a d o f t h i s f a m o u s f a m i l y. M y fi r s t j o b w o u l d h a v e b e e n t h e s u p e r v i s i o n o f t h e c o n s t r u c t i o n o f a n e l e c t r i c p o w e r s t a t i o n o n o n e o f t h e N o b e l o i l fi e l d s i n B a k u . A s I w a s a m e c h a n i c a l e n g i n e e r, I h a d fi r s t t o b r o a d e n my knowledge of electrical engineering. Nobels had ordered the e q u i p m e n t f r o m t h e l a r g e fi r m A S E A i n Va s t e r a o s , a n d t h e r e f o r e it seemed to be a good idea for me to work in different depart m e n t s o f t h a t fi r m f o r a y e a r. ^ However, the Russian Revolution broke out, and it became obvious that the project would have to be delayed until normal con ditions returned. I thus stayed on at ASEA in their foreign d e p a r t m e n t s i n c e I s p o k e fi v e l a n g u a g e s . % In 1920 the Nobel family made an agreement with Standard Oil C o m p a n y, N . J . f o r a f u t u r e c o l l a b o r a t i o n i n R u s s i a , a n d I w a s sent to the USA where I worked in their general engineering department during 1921. At the end of that year it became clear that stable moderate conditions in Russia could not be expected under the rule of the Bolsheviks, who had in the meantime con fi s c a t e d a l l p r i v a t e e n t e r p r i s e s , i n c l u d i n g t h e N o b e l w o r k s . -1- 3E720 I could have stayed with Standard Oil, but I did not feel at home in America and wanted to get back to Sweden. There was no future for me in the oil business but my ties with Emanuel Nobel remained unbroken. The Nobe.ls managed to retain their non-Russian businesses, but had to live in exile, like my f a t h e r. Emanuel Nobel was very generous towards me and financed the e s t a b l i s h i n g o f a s m a l l e n g i n e e r i n g o f fi c e i n S t o c k h o l m . During my stay in the USA I had acquired some inventions, which I developed which made me financially independent. The decisive turning point in my life came, however, when Emanuel Nobel entrusted me with the supervision of a small company which he had begun to finance in 1921 — the A.B. Cryptograph. This company was founded in 1915 with the objective to develop ^ and manufacture ciphering machines invented by the Swedish engineer A.G. Damm. In 1925 I assumed the management of the company as well as the development of saleable products. This was a fascinating task although I did not have any knowledge of cryptography. Mr. A.G. Damm died in 1927. In 1932 the A.B. Cryptograph was liquidated and replaced by the A.B. Cryptoteknik. A.B. Cryptoteknik manufactured only mechanical and electro m e c h a n i c a l c i p h e r i n g m a c h i n e s . A f t e r Wo r l d Wa r I I t h e n e e d for ciphered telegraph transmission became obvious. In order to be able to work without the interference of the Swedish Government -- ciphering machines were at that time considered war material — I decided to move to Zug, Switzerland. I first c o l l a b o r a t e d w i t h t h e S w i s s i n v e n t o r D r. E . G r e t e n e r, b u t l a t e r established a small independent laboratory. CRYPTO AG was in corporated on May 13, 1952, and had at first just one employee. My Swedish activities were transferred to CRYPTO AG, and since the name "Hagelin Cryptos" had already become well known before i World War II the enterprise grew so fast that in 1966 a new manufacturing and administration building was built in Zug/ Steinhausen. The basis for the growth of the CRYPTO AG were the mechanical machines, which were conceived and developed in Sweden -- the o r i g i n a l " H a g e l i n C r y p t o s " . T h e fi r s t p r o d u c t s o f C RY P TO A G w e r e t h e " Te l e c r y p t o s " . T h e y w e r e s u c c e e d e d b y t h e e l e c t r o n i c ciphering equipment which have during the last six years become predominant. The old mechanical machines are, in decreasing quantities, still being produced. Without their basis, how ever, the new developments which have culminated in a large n u m b e r o f d i ff e r e n t v e r s i o n s w o u l d n e v e r h a v e e v o l v e d . T h e trade name "Hagelin Cryptos" has therefore been applied to all the different products of CRYPTO AG. It would be presumptious for me to claim the credit for the success of CRYPTO AG, h o w e v e r, i t w a s i n t e r n a t i o n a l l y a c k n o v / l e d g e d a s t h e m o s t important manufacturer of ciphering equipment before I retired from the company in 1970. -2- 3C720 c The art of invention — and I have mainly become known as an inventor — has for me been sudden ideas or the combination of existing designs for totally different purposes. But the h a r d d e t a i l w o r k t o o b t a i n t h e fi n i s h e d p r o d u c t s h a s b e e n performed by many collaborators, for all of whom I retain a sincere thankfulness. In this context I feel that I must mention several names. First, CA. Lindmark, who became indispensable to me when I developed my best known machine, the C-type, in 1934. My son Boris Jr., who met a tragic death in 1970, had an in ventive mind, and his contributions when the postwar CX-type r w a s d e s ifigr ns te de mwpel or yee ev ewr y h e inm Ip obretgaannt . mM y r .a c tOi vs ikt iaers iSnt i iSr z w i tnzgeer lra, n dm, y d e v e l o p e d m y o r i g i n a l i d e a s f o r t h e " Te l e c r y p t o " m a c h i n e s . He also began to experiment with electronic ciphering devices, a t fi r s t a g a i n s t m y w i s h e s , a s t h i s n e w t e c h n o l o g y w a s a l i e n to me. To achieve success, however, it is not enough to have a n e x c e l l e n t p r o d u c t b u t a l s o s u p e r i o r m a n a g e m e n t . H e r e , M r. Sture Nyberg, who was first the manager and then the director of CRYPTO AG until his retirement in 1976, proved to be the ideal choice. He also contributed by analyzing the security of the machines which were produced. In closing this introduction I must pay my humble respect to Emanuel Nobel and to my father, without whose financial and moral support during the long and not always easy years of m y w o r k w i t h c i p h e r i n g m a c h i n e s I w o u l d r e m a i n e d a n i n s i g n i fi c a n t e n g i n e e r. < : Zug, Spring 1981 . : -3- J 3E720 I, The Beginning The use of cryptographic methods of various kinds stretch es back some thousands of years. A few hundred years ago inventive minds began to make devices to facilitate the process of enciphering and deciphering messages. In 1891 the Frenchman Etienne Bazeries invented a device (Fig. 1), which to the best of my knowledge was still used until World War II. The same principle used by Bazeries had been propounded earlier by the third president of the United S t a t e s T h o m a s J e ff e r s o n ( 1 7 4 3 - 1 8 2 6 ) f o r t h e c o n s t r u c t i o n of a cipher device, but his writings were not discovered u n t i l a f t e r Wo r l d Wa r I . Fig. 1 Cipher Cylinder of General Bazeries In Sweden too, interest existed very early in the use of mechanical devices for secure communication. My old friend S v e n Wa s s t r o m , a S w e d i s h c r y p t o l o g i s t , h a s d i s c o v e r e d i n the national archives in Stockholm some very interesting documents on this subject. In 1786 a Baron Fridric Gripenstierna received permission from King Gustav III to make a cipher device in accordance with Gripenstierna's drawings. In his "submissive" letter to the King, Gripenstierna indicated that he had gotten the idea for the device from h i s f a t h e r - i n - l a w, t h e c e l e b r a t e d i n v e n t o r C h r i s t o p h e r P o l h e i m . T h e m a c h i n e i t s e l f , u n f o r t u n a t e l y, h a s b e e n l o s t , b u t t h e i n v o i c e ( F i g . 2 ) b y t h e b u i l d e r, w h i c h i s d a t e d August 26, 1786, shows that the device was actually built. A remarkably detailed description allowed CRYPTO AG to produce a replica of this machine (Fig. 3a) . -5- 3E720 •" hmg^at atU'^v** tAmm^f .' «>■ Cttiffn.Ctav. <\ii p—,hg *5f*''*,"J •*"**'. «« *— „.j» «r*m Okm X-;Mj* ttitfrtM* Wmt*n a~-v. ^l-fc Fig. 2 Gripenstierna's Invoice This device displays certain resemblances to the one developed much later by Bazeries but far surpassed the French device as far as security and method of operation are concerned. Wasstr intends to publish a study of this earlier device in the next few years. Gripenstierna's device consisted of 57 disks, each of which carried two alphabets. These disks, mounted on an axle, could a l l b e r o t a t e d i n d e p e n d e n t l y o f e a c h o t h e r. A l o n g i t u d i n a l slit with an index guide on each side of the device exposed two sequences of letters. The authorized person who was to perform the enciphering (at the right in Fig. 3b) adjusted the disks during enciphering so that the plaintext appeared row by row in "his" slit. The assistant (at the left in Fig. 3b) then copied down from the other slit the ciphertext, again r o w b y r o w. D u r i n g t h e d e c i p h e r m e n t t h e a s s i s t a n t a d j u s t e d t h e disks to show the ciphertext row by row in the slit on his side. The authorized person then copied down plaintext row by row from his slit. Here we have a modern security concept which separates the ciphering process from the transmission o f t h e c i p h e r. -6- 3E720 a STOCKHOLM 17U C T*-}«I^t*w<^-")f Fig. 3 Cipher Machine of Gripenstierna -7- 3E720 In the 19th century inventors increasingly concerned them selves with the development of ciphering devices and machines. A n i n v e s t i g a t i o n s h o w s t h a t i n t h e G e r m a n p a t e n t o f fi c e , w h i c h was founded in 1877, about 150 patents were issued before 1927 for cipher devices. In this list the name of a Swede appeared in 1915: Arvid Gerhard Damm. He was able to interest Swedish industrialists in his inventions and A.B. Cryptograph was founded in 1915 to exploit his inventions. H i s fi r s t f u n d a m e n t a l l y s o u n d m a c h i n e i s s h o w n i n F i g u r e s 4a and b. He used a revolvable drum, on which 26 alphabet s t r i p s c o u l d b e fi x e d i n a n y d e s i r e d o r d e r. T h e a l p h a b e t s were formed so that they could be considered to be a scramb l e d Vi g e n e r e s q u a r e , w i t h t h e a l p h a b e t s i n r e v e r s e d o r d e r. Close to the alphabet drum a reference alphabet in the nor mal order (A...Z) was mounted (the dark strip). When ciphering, the drum would be advanced one step for each operation, while the reference alphabet could take one of two positions (see Fig. 4b). Through a slit at the top of the m a c h i n e ( F i g . 4 a ) o n e c o u l d r e a d o ff t h e l e t t e r s t o b e c i p h e r e d from the reference alphabet to one of two drum alphabets. The positions of the reference alphabet were controlled by the chain (Fig. 4b) which advanced one step for each operation. The low links set the referenced alphabet one operation, w h i l e t h e h i g h l i n k s s e t i t t o t h e o t h e r. The length of the chain and also the position of low and high links could be varied within certain limits. These options as well as the possibility of changing the relative positions of the drum alphabets made it possible to obtain a large number of different cipher series. The use of reci procal alphabets made it easy to us,e the machine, as the reading from the reference alphabet could be done both when enciphering and when deciphering. Im emergency cases the machine could be opened and the chaiin disassembled into the individual links, thus destroying am important key element. c 3E720 f Fig. 4 A-21 by Arvid G. Damm -9- 3E720 * Using the same principle, Damm also built a number of office machines equipped with keyboards. When a key was pressed, a letter would be exposed below the alphabet strips. During encipherment it would be a ciphertext letter, during de cipherment the plaintext letter (Fig. 5). Here too the chain was used as the controlling element. In operation the machine was used with a protective cover. Fig. 5 Office Machine by A.G. Damm (cover removed) -10- o 3E720 He also constructed another purely mechanical machine which printed both the plaintext and the ciphertext. Four of these machines were sold to Japan. Finally Damm invented a system with so-called rotors, i.e., alphabet permutating wheels, an invention which was made at almost the same time by the American Hebern, the Dutchman Koch, and the German Scherbius f> Fig. 6 "Mecanocrypto" by A.G. Damm - 11 - 3E720 * ! A normal rotor at that time consisted of a disk which had on each of its two faces 26 metal contacts embedded around the circumference. These contacts were connected in pairs through the inside of the disk in a random fashion, one contact on one face connected to one contact on the other face. The best-known machine using rotors was the German "ENIGMA", equipped with 3 or 4 rotors which were set to a new starting position for each message in accordance with the keying instructions. The machine (Fig. 7) was provided with a keyboard and a lamp field. Each lamp was arranged to light up one letter. To operate the machine only a flashlight battery was needed. *.'" ■■■■:■■■.•.,.. ■■ ..._ Fig. 7 "Enigma" produced by Chiffriermaschinen AG Berlin -12- 3E720 When a key was pressed, an electric circuit was closed so t h a t i n e n c i p h e r m e n t t h e c i p h e r t e x t l e t t e r, i m d e c i p h e r m e n t t h e p l a i n t e x t l e t t e r, c o r r e s p o n d i n g t o t h e k e y p r e s s e d w a s lighted up. At the same time the rotors were moved step-bys t e p a c c o r d i n g t o a fi x e d p r o g r a m . r Damm1s rotors were constructed somewhat differently from the ENIGMA'S but produced a similar effect. They were made for machines which were intended for the ciphering of messages t r a n s m i t t e d b y r a d i o t e l e g r a p h y, b e c a u s e s u c h m e s s a g e s c o u l d easily be intercepted. Damm aimed to interest primarily the large telegraph companies in his machine, those companies which handled the transatlantic t e l e g r a p h t r a f fi c i n p a r t i c u l a r . I n f a c t w i t h s u c h m a c h i n e s t h e r a d i o t r a f fi c c o u l d h a v e b e e n j u s t a s s e c u r e a s t h e c a b l e t r a f fi c . -13- 3E720 Fig. 8 "Electrocrypto B-18" by A.G. Damm 14- r3 3E720 II. The First Machines r> When in 1921 the capital of A.B. Cryptograph was ex hausted, none of the stpckholders would or could make f u r t h e r f u n d s a v a i l a b l e . H o w e v e r, a t t h i s p o i n t t h e d i r e c t o r o f t h e c o m p a n y s u c c e e d e d i n i n t e r e s t i n g D r. Emanuel Nobel in the A.B. Cryptograph and its possibili ties. Because of the Revolution the Nobels had lost their holdings in Russia: a large mechanical factory a n d t h e l a r g e s t R u s s i a n O i l fi r m , t h e " N o b e l B r o t h e r s Oil Production Company". W i t h r e g a r d t o t h e A . B . C r y p t o g r a p h D r. N o b e l c o n s u l t e d his colleague and close friend Karl Wilhelm Hagelin, my f a t h e r, a n d t h e y c a m e t o t h e c o n c l u s i o n t h a t t h e p o s s e s sion of good cipher machines for written communications c o u l d p l a y a d e c i s i v e r o l e i n o f t e n d i f fi c u l t b u s i n e s s affairs. Based on that conclusion Nobel himself decided to invest new funds in the A.B. Cryptograph, and my father also took a small part in the company. He was technically interested as he was an engineer himself. Since the director of the A.B. Cryptograph, Arvid Gerhard Damm, had a rather obstinate personality, Nobel and K.W. Hagelin needed a trustworthy person to monitor his activities. Because I was then living in Stockholm where I had opened my small engineering office, Mr. Nobel asked me to watch over A.B. Cryptograph. When I joined the company, Damm's interests in cipher m a c h i n e s w e r e c o n c e n t r a t e d i n t h e fi e l d o f r a d i o t e l e g r a p h y. W h e n I fi r s t a p p e a r e d a t t h e c o m p a n y o f fi c e s a complete layout was on display: a typewriter for the input of text, a cipher machine, and a typewriter equip ped with electromagnets for the output of enciphered or deciphered text. Damm had succeeded in arousing the interest of the major radio telegraph companies in his machine and prototypes were to be built by one of t h e s e c o m p a n i e s i n P a r i s . A f t e r I j o i n e d t h e fi r m D a m m moved to Paris, and I had to look after the business s i d e o f t h e fi r m a n d i t s t e c h n i c a l d e v e l o p m e n t m o r e t h a n I had originally expected. -15- 3E720 In the end Damm succeeded in winning the "big four" to h i s p r o j e c t : M a r c o n i , Te l e f u n k e n , T S F a n d We s t e r n U n i o n . T h e y fi n a n c e d t h e c o n s t r u c t i o n o f f o u r p r o t o t y p e s . B u t these did not appear to be reliable enough and were too s l o w, s o t h e p r o j e c t f a i l e d . In the meantime, however, Damm had developed a system w i t h s o - c a l l e d s i m p l i fi e d r o t o r s , a n d s o m e p r o t o t y p e s o f t h e s e w e r e b u i l t f o r w i r e l e s s t r a f fi c . T h e m a c h i n e s consisted of three units: The keyboard, the ciphering * portion with motor drive, and the output unit -- either an electromechanical tape punch (a Creed Morse code punch), which was equipped with a magnetic control or an electric t y p e w r i t e r. Fig. 8 shows under (a) the ciphering unit, under (b) the tape punching machine, the keyboard and the ciphering u n i t , a n d u n d e r ( c ) a n e l e c t r i c t y p e w r i t e r, k e y b o a r d and ciphering unit. This machine was Damm's Electrocrypto B-18. T h e p r i n c i p l e o f t h e s i m p l i fi e d r o t o r l a t e r b e c a m e t h e salvation of the faltering business. But this came only after Damm's death in 1927. 16- 3E720 I n 1 9 2 5 I w a s a b l e t o m a k e m y fi r s t p o s i t i v e c o n t r i b u t i o n t o the A.B. Cryptograph, and this proved to be of decisive im p o r t a n c e f o r t h e f u t u r e o f t h e c o m p a n y. I h a p p e n e d t o h e a r that the Swedish General Staff had received an "ENIGMA" ma c h i n e f o r s t u d y a n d I r u s h e d t o v i s i t t h e o f fi c e r c o n c e r n e d w i t h t h i s m a t t e r. I e x p l a i n e d t o h i m t h a t t h e A . B . C r y p t o g r a p h a l r e a d y h a d t e n y e a r s o f e x p e r i e n c e i n t h e fi e l d o f c i p h e r m a c h i n e s a n d t h a t I w o u l d b e a b l e t o o ff e r s o m e t h i n g p o s s i b l y superior to the "ENIGMA". The General Staff wanted our machine to be the same size as the ENIGMA and to operate in the same way. Time was short and I had only six months to produce the new machine. At the time we had only Damm's earlier constructions on hand, and they did not fi l l o u r n e e d s . N e v e r t h e l e s s I p r o m i s e d t o d e l i v e r. I n t h o s e days I had no experience whatoever about cryptography but I had a certain talent for tinkering: I believed I would be able to build a comparatively compact machine on the basis of Damm's " s i m p l i fi e d r o t o r s " . T h i s d e s i g n m a d e u s e o f a 5 x 5 g r i d , w h o s e p r i n c i p l e i s s h o w n i n a s i m p l i fi e d d i a g r a m i n F i g . 9 . & & 8 & 0 £_&_&_& £ _ & &_&_& & & & 0 & X £ _ & M-M-£ Fig. 9 5x5 Matrix > To build the first model of the machine Emanuel Nobel allowed me the sum of 500 kronor, about $ 134.— (!) I succeeded in producing a prototype within the size limitations and in the time authorized, a somewhat primitive model but still adequate for the evaluation. This machine had a keyboard, 2 rotors whose stepping was controlled by two separate pairs of pinwheels (keying-wheels) with different divisions on their p e r i p h e r y, a n d w i t h a d i s p l a y o f 2 5 e l e c t r i c l a m p s w h i c h served to indicate the output letters for encipherment or decipherment (Fig. 10). This prototype was analyzed by a mathematician, and approved instead of the ENIGMA for use by the General Staff. -17- 3E720 Fig. 10 B.C.W. Hagelin's B-21 (Prototype) Because Damm used a 5 x 5 grid, it was necessary to eliminate ^ one letter of low frequency or to use the same signal for two letters, e.g. for i and j. The keyboard was connected with two groups of 5 contacts each. By operating a key, one contact was closed in each of the two groups, forming one of the 25 possible combinations. After the closing of two circuits through the two rotors, and a further circuit through a relay system, one of the 25 electric lamps l i g h t e d u p a n d i n d i c a t e d t h e r e s u l t i n g l e t t e r. T h e r e l a y s y s t e m was necessary because at that time there were as yet no devices l i k e m o d e r n d i o d e s , w h i c h w o u l d h a v e s i m p l i fi e d t h e c o n s t r u c t i o n c o n s i d e r a b l y. I n o r d e r t o b e a b l e t o v a r y t h e e n c i p h e r e d a l p h a b e t s , s o - c a l l e d m o d i fi c a t o r s w e r e a d d e d i n s e r i e s w i t h t h e rotors, i.e., interchangeable leads which could be plugged in as desired. This provided 51 = 12 0 combinations for each group and for both groups together yielded 14,400 possibilities. It should be noted that after the Second World War I developed a new modificator system which could generate all 251 - 1.55 25 ^ x 10 possibilities, but at that time this machine had been superseded by my C-Type machine. -18- f) 3E720 The designation "pin-wheel" mentioned above needs to be ex plained since the pin-wheel came to be used later in many other machines. It is a disk which carries on its periphery a number of axial holes or slots in which pins are located. These pins are movable and are so arranged that they can pro trude on one side or the other of the pin wheel. One side of the wheel is the "active" side, i.e., pins which protrude on this side exert a controlling effect. The pin-wheels are stepped with each operation, each wheel moving one pin position during each operation. The, cyclic length of the wheels have no common factors. Thus as several wheels work together, a very long period for the key is obtained. The prototype had four pin-wheels, with cyclic length of 17, 19, 21, and 23, which yielded a combined keying cyclic CS length of about 1.5 x 10 , or 1'500'000 operations. By using different combinations of pin settings theoretically 0 2 1x 72 „ 1 9 x 021 2 x 23 = 2 o r a p p r o x i m a t e l y 1 0 d i f f e r e n t period characteristics could be obtained. This meant that an enormously large number of variations was possible. The prototype of the machine (Fig. 10), which was given the name B-21, is still in the possession of the CRYPTO AG. O O Fig. 11 B-21 with solenoid Magnets (Series) -19- 3E720 I Fig. 11 shows the final model, in appearance quite similar to the "ENIGMA". It used a power supply of 110 or 220 volts for a solenoid magnet which operated the stepping of the rotors. For the lamp display a flashlight battery was utilized. For the convenient use of this machine in central offices with extensive operations, it was connected to a Remington electric typewriter instead of the lamp display (Fig. 12). Typewriter keys were activated by small electromagnets and the lamp display was shut off. I * I Fig. 12 B-21 with electric Typewriter -20- D 3E720 III. The B-211 Machine After Emanuel Nobel died in 1932 his heirs did not want to make any more funds available for A.B. Cryptograph. I myself had been working without pay because the firm's i n c o m e h a d b e e n v e r y m e a g e r. I n s p i t e o f t h e l i m i t e d possibilities I was able to make several trips to other countries where I found buyers for the B-21. The decisive s u c c e s s , h o w e v e r, c a m e f r o m t h e i n t e r e s t o f t h e F r e n c h Army in our machine. Before the machines could be sold t w o r e q u i r e m e n t s h a d t o b e f u l fi l l e d : t h e m a c h i n e h a d to be able to print the text and should also be portable. This called for the implementation of an electromechanical drive. I succeeded in solving this problem in a short time by replacing the lamp display with a special type wheel printing mechanism, (Fig. 13), which I had designed. O Fig, 13 B.C.W. Hagelin's B-211 -21- 3E720 I Since the machine, which we called the B-211, was to be built in France, we got as manufacturer the French subsidiary o f t h e Te l e f o n - A B L . M . E r i c s s o n l o c a t e d i n C o l o m b e s j u s t northwest of Paris. The B-211 was provided with shift keys like those on a type w r i t e r. D u r i n g e n c i p h e r m e n t o n l y l e t t e r s w e r e p r i n t e d , b u t during decipherment letters, numbers and symbols were printed. The machine also had a crank so it could be operated by hand in case the electric power failed. For the ciphering circuits a fl a s h l i g h t b a t t e r y w a s u s e d , a s i n t h e B - 2 1 m a c h i n e . I Before the outbreak of World War II about 500 B-211 machines w e r e b u i l t a n d d e l i v e r e d . I t w a s t h r o u g h t h e fi n a n c i a l s u p p o r t o f m y f a t h e r, w h o l i v e d i n P a r i s a t t h e t i m e , t h a t t h i s b u s i ness could be carried through. It would not have been possi ble without his encouragement and funds, and it was not easy for him. When the war broke out, my father at the last moment succeeded i n t r a n s f e r r i n g t h e p r o fi t s f r o m F r a n c e t o S w e d e n . T h e a m o u n t was large enough to pay for his expenses and install and equip a modern workshop. It was our first workshop since the founding of the A.B. Cryptograph in 1915. The shop was dedicated at New Year's eve of 1940 by the heirs of the A.B. Cryptograph a n d w a s r e n a m e d t h e " A . B . I n g e n i o r s fi r m a n C r y p t o t e k n i k " . It may be mentioned that the French army after the War bought an additional 100 B-211 machines. I a l s o m i g h t m e n t i o n t h a t I w a s o b l i g e d b e f o r e t h e Wa r t o s e l l "two cipher machines" to the Russian Trade Commission in Stock holm (according to the purchase order). I sold them two B-211 machines which we had in stock in Stockholm. * « The machines were copied in Russia and used during World War II. Th e y were provided with a 5 x 6 grid. The Cyrillic alphabe t h a d more than 30 letters but a few of them occurred very seldom, a n d c o u l d b e o m i t t e d . A l s o t h e m o d i fi c a t o r s w e r e p l u g g e d i n outside of the machine, probably under locked cover so that the operator would not know which inner settings were in use at any given time (Fig. 14). 31 -22- n 3E720 Fig. m Copied B-211 for Cyrillic Alphabet ) -23- 3E720 IV. The C-Machines Quite soon after the beginning of our business relation ship with the French "Deuxieme Bureau" I was asked in t h a t pnrriinnt^eTd^. A d se v g e io°o?d al u c ko mwpoaucl td "hpaovcek eit ", Ic i ph h aa cd h ivn e ae d r a lmr e a few years before received from two Swedes an order to design a com changing machine. After I had built a functioning prototype, I got the idea that it should be possible to insert any amount in coins, to enter the i n v o i c e a m o u n t b y a k e y, a n d fi n a l l y t o g e t b a c k t h e change. This machine was equipped with a unique calcu lating mechanism but it was never built because we had not been reimbursed for our development effort. We agreed to cancel the debt and retained the rights for our designs. T r y i n g t o fi n d a s o l u t i o n f o r t h e " p o c k e t d e v i c e " f o r t h e French, I got the idea to incorporate the calculating mechanism for the money changer into such a device. The revolutionary invention" (in the opinion of distinguis hed cryptologists) consisted in a pure association of ideas that were transferred from one to another completelv different fi e l d of application. 'Purely The calculating mechanism of the money changer consisted of a drum with displaceable axial bars around its circum f e r e n c e w h i c h c o u l d b e a ff e c t e d b y o p e r a t i n g t h e k e y s T h o s e b a r s w h i c h w e r e a ff e c t e d i n a n o p e r a t i o n w e r e d i s - ~ placed to the left as the drum turned. A type wheel mes hing with the drum was turned exactly the same number of steps as the number of bars moved to the left. I replaced the keys of the money changer with pin-wheels, and the type wheel carried letters now instead of numbers. In this way I obtained a cipher mAchine. In order to estimate t h e d i m e n s i o n s d e s i r e d , I c u t o u t a w o o d e n b l o c k t o fi t s n u g l y i n t o t h e p o c k e t o f a j a c k e t . F o r t h e fi r s t m o d e l s I used a drum with 25 bars and|five pin-wheels of the same construction as those in the B-21. These wheels were pro vided with pins around their circumferences, which could be placed axially in two different positions, either "active" or "inactive". "Active" pins worked upon the drum by means of a control arm. -24- 3E720 r> ^ Fig, 15 B.C.W. Hagelin's C-35 % -25- 3E720 The bars of the drum are provided with cams, i.e., raised a r e a s o n t h e i r e d g e s , o f s u c h a d e s i g n t h a t t h e fi r s t b a r w o u l d b e m o v e d b y t h e c o n t r o l a r m o f t h e fi r s t p i n - w h e e l , the next two bars by the second wheel, the next four by the third, the next eight by the fourth, and the remaining ten b a r s fi n a l l y b y t h e fi f t h w h e e l ( F i g . 1 5 ) . Depending on the number and the arrangement of active pins in the pinwheel in question the control levers will be pushed against the periphery of the drum, or remain in their inactive positions. When the drum is revolved during an operation the active levers push the corresponding bars (from 0 up to 25 bars) to the left and so engage the gearwheel connected to the typewheel. The typewheel is therefore displaced a number of steps equal to the number of the active bars. The drum thus acts like a gearwheel with a variable number of teeth. As the number of pin divisions on the pinwheels has not any common d e n o m i n a t o r, t h e l e n g t h o f t h e k e y p e r i o d , i . e . , t h e n u m b e r of operations which are needed before the pinwheels return to their common starting position, is very long. F o r t h e fi r s t m a c h i n e s t h e d i v i s i o n s , o r c y c l i c w h e e l l e n g t h s selected were 17, 19, 21, 23 and 25, which resulted in a period length of 3'900'225 operations, a length which until then had not been achieved in any mechanical ciphering machine. M o r e o v e r, s i n c e o n e c o u l d s e t a l l t h e p i n s t h e o r e t i c a l l y i n a b o u t 1 029 d i f f e r e n t c o m b i n a t i o n s , t h e n u m b e r o f p o s s i b l e variations was so high that these machines are fully adequate f o r c e r t a i n p u r p o s e s e v e n t o d a y. Later I made various changes in direct response to the steady p r o g r e s s i n c r y p t a n a l y s i s , w h i c h i n c l u d e d t h e s i g n i fi c a n t w o r k of the Swedish cryptologist Y. Gylden. The main improvement c o n s i s t e d o f i n c r e a s i n g t h e n u m b e r o f p i n w h e e l s f r o m fi v e to six, and to introducing rearrangeable lugs on the drumb a r s i n s t e a d o f fi x e d c a m s . When the machine began to be produced in larger quantities, a bottom plate and a protective cover were added. The bottom' plate was formed so that the machine could be used in the fi e l d s t r a p p e d o v e r t h e k n e e o f t h e o p e r a t o r. I f n e c e s s a r y the operator could even march with the machine strapped to his thigh. This new type of apparatus was given the designa t i o n C w i t h o n e l e t t e r a n d a n u m e r a l s u f fi x w h i c h o r i g i n a l l y d e s i g n a t e d t h e m o d e l y e a r b u t a f t e r 1 9 5 2 d e fi n e d t h e s p e c i fi c model of the machine: e.g., CX-52. 26- 3E720 The opportunity to establish a modern workshop with the royal ties from our French sales occurred just before the outbreak of World War II. It thus became possible for us to make and sell a c o n s i d e r a b l e n u m b e r o f m a c h i n e s d u r i n g t h a t Wa r. O u r fi r s t l a r g e customer were the Swedish defence forces with whom I had main tained connections since 1925. From France we received an order for over 5000 machines, which were to be manufactured by Ericsson at Colombes, but this order could not be completed. To p r o m o t e t h e C M a c h i n e I m a d e s e v e r a l t r i p s , fi r s t w i t h i n Europe, but in 1937 I went again to the USA where the wish was expressed to have an electrically powered machine with a key board. In the summer of 1939 I took a prototype of the so-called B C M a c h i n e t o Wa s h i n g t o n . U n f o r t u n a t e l y t h e c o n s t r u c t i o n n e e d e d improvement and I returned to Sweden the same autumn after the r % outbreak of War with matters still unsettled. J I made another trip to the USA at the beginning of March 1940 o n m y o w n i n i t i a t i v e w i t h o u t a n y r e q u e s t f r o m Wa s h i n g t o n . I was able to leave on the last ship from Europe at Genoa on May 10, 1940 with two machines in my luggage before the I t a l i a n s e n t e r e d W o r l d Wa r I I . T h i s t r i p w a s t o l e a d t o t h e largest sale of C Machines ever made. The American business began with an initial order for 50 ma chines which were shipped airfreight from Sweden to Washington. A fte r e xte n si ve te sti n g th e ma ch i n e w a s a cce p te d . Th e Am e r i c a n s selected it for tactical use, as they did not have any comparable machine at that time. The C Machine, designated in America as the M-209, was manufactured by the Corona plant of the L.C. Smith t y p e w r i t e r c o m p a n y, w i t h a d a i l y o u t p u t o f u p t o 5 0 0 u n i t s . I remained in America during the war and had a small shop in my home for servicing BC Machines which were used by an A m e r i c a n o r g a n i z a t i o n d u r i n g t h e w a r. When it became possible for me to return to Sweden in 1944, more than 50'000 machines had been built. By the end of the war over 140'000 units were made in America. During my four year stay in the States the workshop in Stockholm was kept busy with orders from several foreign countries. One delivery went by an extraordinary way to Japan. The machines were smuggled out by the Japanese military attache in a night boat passage and picked up by a U-Boat off the coast of Sweden. But very few machines reached their intended destination in Japan. It seems worth mentioning that the German authorities, who years before the war showed no interest in the demonstrated C Machine, began, toward the end of the war, in the Wanderer works at Chem nitz to manufacture a copy of the BC Machine for their own use because the "ENIGMA" machine had been broken by the British (Fig. 18). -27- 3E720 Fig. 16 B.C.W. Hagelin's BC-543 -28- e> 3E720 r> ) Fig. 17 USA-version of the C-36: M-209 , -29- 3E720 Fig. 18 Ml (german copy of the BC-543) -30- \ £ 3E720 When the third Reich collapsed they had only been able to manu facture about 7 00 machines. It is even more interesting to note that in the 1950's postwar variation of the C Machine was built in Germany under licence. About 10'000 machines are said to have been produced. France also obtained the manufacturing rights for the C Machine for the francophone community. It should be stressed that the C Machine was planned for tactical purposes, i.e., for use at the front. When, because of its simp l i c i t y a n d p o r t a b i l i t y, t h e m a c h i n e a l s o p r o v e d t o b e i n t e r e s t i n g for use in the diplomatic service, improvements were needed to a t t a i n a h i g h e r d e g r e e o f s e c u r i t y. • I fi r s t g o t t h e i d e a o f m o d i f y i n g t h e m a c h i n e s o t h a t t h e r o t a t i o n o f t h e p i n - w h e e l s w o u l d b e i r r e g u l a r l y. O t h e r i m p r o v e m e n t s were introduced as well. The new type brought no large changes in the basic structure of the original C Machine. This new ma c h i n e w a s fi r s t g i v e n t h e d e s i g n a t i o n C X - 5 2 b u t l a t e r, a f t e r different pin-wheel movement variations were made, new model numbers were used (Fig. 19 r* ^i Fig. 19 The C(X)-52 31- 3E720 Before going into the details of the various improvements, it is important to emphasize that the requirements of our custo mers led in two opposite directions. One group required very long key periods, while the other wanted a movement of the pin-wheels that was as irregular as possible. It required great mathematical competence to compile keys which would assure that s u f fi c i e n t l y l o n g p e r i o d s w e r e o b t a i n e d . I n o r d e r t o s a t i s f y our customer we also developed hybrid systems where usually o n e p i n - w h e e l w a s s t e p p e d r e g u l a r l y a n d t h e o t h e r s i r r e g u l a r l y. The further development of the C Machine, which even today, in the age of electronics, is being used, can now be followed in some detail: a) The number of pin-wheels was increased quite early to s i x . I n s t e a d o f t h e o r i g i n a l fi v e w h e e l s w i t h d i v i s i o n s of 17, 19, 21, 23 and 25, 12 pin-wheels became available with divisions of 25, 26, 29, 31, 34, 37, 38, 41, 42, 43, 46 and 47, of which six were to be used at one time, preferably those with no common factors. The wheels were inser