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← Hand Germany
Manual wheel cipher system
- wanted item
Discret (or Diskret) was a wheel-based
manual cipher system, created in 1899 by
Dr. Friedrich Rehmann in Karlsruhe (Germany).
It was called Geheim- und Weltschreibmaschine
(Secret and World Typewriter) and could be used both as a typewriter and as a
simple cipher machine.
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The device consists of two concentrical discs, each with the full alphabet
in upper and lower case, numbers and punctuation marks. Typewriting was
achieved by turning the handle (on the disc) to the desired letter and
pressing the lever at the left all the way down. The letter would then be
printed on a piece of paper that was laying flat at the bottom.
The cryptographic principle of Discret is alphabet substitution
(Vigenère).
The small knob is used to rotate the inner disc to a predetermined offset.
The sender then informs the receiver of the chosen offset. The receiver
then performs the reverse.
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The image above shows a typical Discret machine that used to be part of
the collection of Scryption in Tilburg (Netherlands), until the museum
was dissolved in 2011.
It now belongs to the University of Karlsruhe.
During the exhibition SuperTU/esday
in February 2010, we had a good chance to examine this machine further.
Below are some detailed pictures we took at the event.
Discret is completed by a wooden dust cover, which is missing
from the one shown here.
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The Discret is a highly-wanted collectors item, especially since not many
of them have survived. They do, however, turn up at auctions every now and then
and some are on public display in museums. Below are some suggestions if you
want to see a real Discret.
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At present, no further information about this machine is available.
We would very much like to know more about it and about its history.
If you know more about it, please contact us.
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Any links shown in red are currently unavailable.
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© Crypto Museum. Created: Monday 16 August 2010. Last changed: Friday, 23 February 2018 - 22:19 CET.
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