Charles Wheatstone

From The Enigma War 1980 by Józef Garliński

...     Wheatstone was one of the polymaths who, in the nineteenth century, when the great development of technology was just beginning, exercised their active minds in many diverse fields and achieved some fine results. He built an electric telegraph, published several articles on acoustics, was interested in phonetics and developed the concertina. He was fascinated by cryptology and so set about building a cipher machine. He used the case of a large clock with two circles of letters on the face and, of course, two hands. The larger circle, around which moved the large hand, had twenty-six letters and one empty space, while the smaller one, corresponding to the small hand, also had twenty-six letters, but without the empty space. The letters on the large circle were arranged alphabetically, while those on the smaller one were arranged haphazardly, according to a secret design of the constructor. The hands were linked by a system of cogs so that one complete revolution of the large hand moved the small hand only a short distance : one letter. The initial setting of the small hand was the key to the cipher. Wheatstone demonstrated his machine in Paris in 1867 and created a sensation.   (Etc).

New York : Scribner's 1980, p. 8.

Bibliographic, source : http://melvyl.cdlib.org

1 Details/Locations Author Bowers, Brian. Title Sir Charles Wheatstone FRS : 1802-1875 / Brian Bowers. Publisher Stevenage : Institution of Electrical Engineers in association with the Science Museum, c2001. Description xvii, 235 p. : ill., ports. ; 24 cm. Series IEE history of technology series ;29 ISBN 0852961030 Language English Note Previous ed.: London : HMSO, 1975. Note Includes bibliographical references and index. Subject Wheatstone, Charles, Sir, 1802-1875. Electric engineering -- History. Format Book Library UCLA UCB UCSB UCD 2 Details/Locations Author Bowers, Brian. Title Sir Charles Wheatstone, FRS, 1802-1875 / Brian Bowers. -- Publisher London : H. M. Stationery Off., 1975. Description 239 p., [8] leaves of plates : ill., ports. ; 22 cm. ISBN 0112902162 : Language English Note At head of title: Science Museum. Subject Wheatstone, Charles, Sir, 1802-1875. Electric engineering -- History. Format Book Library UCLA UCR 3 Details/Locations Author Wheatstone, Charles, Sir, 1802-1875 Title The scientific papers of Sir Charles Wheatstone [microform] / published by the Physical Society of London Publisher London : Taylor and Francis, 1879 Description xiii p., 1 l., 380 p., XXI leaves of plates (3 folded) : ill. ; 23 cm Language English Note Master microform held by: Readex Note Includes bibliographical references and index Subject Physics Format Book Library UCSF UCSD 4 Details/Locations Author Wheatstone, Charles, Sir, 1802-1875. Title The scientific papers of Sir Charles Wheatstone [microform] / published by the Physical Society of London. Publisher London : Taylor and Francis, 1879. Description xiii p., 1 l., 380 p., XXI leaves of plates (3 folded) : ill. ; 23 cm. Language English Note Continued by: Landmarks II. Master microform held by: Readex. Note Includes bibliographical references and index. Subject Physics. Format Book Library UCLA UCB NRLF UCD 5 Details/Locations Author British Telegraph Manufactory. Title The new system of magneto-electric bells. [Sir Charles Wheatstone's patents.] Publisher [London : British Telegraph Manufactory, 1870?] Description 2 leaves : ill. ; 26 cm. Language English