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Hagelin
Pin-wheel
  
CX-52 →
C-52 →
  
Slide bars
Known C-52 and CX-52 slide bars

Hagelin's pin-and-lug cipher machines – the co-called C-machines, or pin-wheel machines – all have a revolving cylindrical drum, or cage, with sideways movable bars, the so-called slide bars, that control the stepping of the pin-wheels and the print head. The Hagelin C-52 and CX-52 cipher machines have 32 slide bars in their drum, that are interchangeable between the two machine types. Below is an overview of all known slide bars, as indexed by Bart Wessel in [1].

The bars that are shown in grey can be fitted with lugs and are known as luggable bars. The bars that are shown in red can not be fitted with lugs and are known as unluggable bars.

ID Shape Machine
1 a
2 a IR
3 a
4 a IR
5 a
6 a
7 a
8 a
9 a
10 a
11 a
12 a
13 a c M IR G RT
C-52
14 b G
15 b c G
16 IR C-52[c2]
17 C-52[c2]
18 RT C-52
33 RT
35 IR
54 G
56 IR
57 KK
60 IR
64 IR
68 b c
 
Unmarked bars
The following bars are not stamped with an identification number. Although some of them may be identical to one of the numbered bars above, we have listed them here with a provisional ID, as indexed by Bart Wessel in 2021 [1].
A C-52
B C-52
C RT
D 1 RT
E RT
G1 CX-52
G2 CX-52
G3 CX-52
G4 CX-52
G5 CX-52
G6 CX-52
H RT
 
Additional unluggable bars
72 RT
105 M
107 M
109 M
111 M
157 M
  1. Bar D — found in position 30 of a CX-52/RT in The Netherlands — carries a metal bridge on its leftmost K-cam, that overlaps with the bars in position 29 and 31 (which do not have a K-cam).

Meaning of the cams:

  • K
    Advance print head when bar is displaced
  • K̅
    Advance print head when bar is not displaced
  • -
    Never advance print head
  • 0
    Never advance this pin-wheel
  • A
    Advance this pin-wheel when bar is displaced
  • B
    Advance this pin-wheel when bar is not displaced
  • C
    Always advance this pin-wheel
Meaning of the column 'Machine':

  • a
    CX-52a
  • b
    CX-52b
  • c
    CX-52c
  • M
    CX-52M (CXM-52)
  • RT
    CX-52/RT (RT/CX)
  • IR
    CX-52/Ireland (special)
  • G
    CX-52/Gendarmerie (France)
  • KK
    Klaus Kopacz collection

Standard slide-bar sets
Standard A   CX-52a
Below is an overview of the Standard A set of slide bars, as it was supplied with the CX-52a. Note that the suffix 'a' was a secret designator, that was not printed on the ID-tag of the device. A good example is the CX-52a with serial number 334323 from the Crypto Museum Collection.

Pos Shape ID
31-32 13
30 12
26-29 11
25 10
21-24 9
20 8
16-19 7
15 6
11-14 5
10 4
6-9 3
5 2
1-4 1

Standard B   CX-52b 1
Pos Shape ID
32 15
1-31 14
  1. Deduced from NSA documents [7]. Consistent with the HELL H-54 cipher machine, which is known to be the functional equivalent of the CX-52bk.


Standard C - I   CX-52c — variant 1
Pos Shape ID
30-32 13
29 68
28 15
1-27 13

Standard C - II   CX-52c — variant 2
Pos Shape ID
32 15
31 68
1-30 13

Standard C - III   CX-52c — variant 3 1
Pos Shape ID
32 68
31 15
28-30 18
1-27 13
  1. From a handwritten note in the archives of the Dutch Naval intelligence service MARID.


Standard C - IV   CX-52c — variant 4
Pos Shape ID
32 G1
31 G2
30 G3
29 G4
28 G5
1-27 G6 1
  1. This bar is unnumbered, but is identical to bar number 13.


Standard C2 - I   C(X)-52[c2] — variant 1
Pos Shape ID
32 17
31 16
28-30 18
1-27 13

Standard C2 - II   C-52[c2] — variant 2
Pos Shape ID
32 16
31 17
1-30 13

Standard D   C-52[d]
Pos Shape ID
32 18
31 17
28-30 18
1-27 13

Standard M - I   C-52M - early
Pos Shape ID
32 11
31 9
30 7
29 5
28 57
1-27 13

Standard M - II   C-52M - late
Pos Shape ID
32 111
31 109
30 107
29 105
28 157
1-27 13

Standard RT   C-52/RT
Pos Shape ID
32 1
1-31 13

Special IR   C-52 Ireland
Pos Shape ID
30-32 13
29 64
28 16
21-27 13
20 60
12-19 13
11 56
10 4
7-9 13
6 2
4-5 13
3 35
1-2 13

Special RT - NL   C-52/RT Netherlands
The bar configuration below was found inside a CX-52/RT that was used by the Dutch Foreign Office for communication with its embassies abroad. ➤ More information

Pos Shape ID
32 72
31 C
30 1 D 1
29 C
27-28 18
5-26 13
2-4 H
1 18
  1. Bar D in position 30 carries a metal bridge on its leftmost K-cam, that overlaps with the bars in position 29 and 31 (that do not have a K-cam). It is otherwise identical to bar #18.
  2. As some bars no not have an ID number, we have provisionally identified them with a letter (C, D, H).


Special Gendarmerie - France   CX-52/g
The CX-52 machines that were used by the Gendarmerie Nationale – the French Military Police – had a completely different set of bars, that does not fall into any of the existing classes. Between 1000 and 2000 of these machines were used by the Gendarmerie. ➤ More information

Pos Shape ID
28-32 13
27 14
25-26 13
24 14
22-23 13
21 54
19-20 13
18 54
16-17 13
15 15
1-14 13



Documentation
  1. Download slide bar reference sheet
    Allows quick identification of a slide bar.
References
  1. Bart Wessel, The Hagelin Cryptographers C-52 and CX-52
    Crypto Museum, 24 February 2021. ➤ Info
Further information
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© Crypto Museum. Created: Sunday 21 February 2021. Last changed: Monday, 25 October 2021 - 07:16 CET.
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