Talk:Hebern rotor machine

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Untitled[edit]

this rotor machine was an outstanding piece of art and saved many lives who would not be here today. All I can say is that I would not be here without this amazing machine only made out of a standard typewriter and an electric typewriter.

Meep

Error: Hebern's 1918 patent[edit]

This article claims, in its "History" section, that:

"He [Edward Hugh Hebern] made his first drawings of a rotor-based machine in 1917,[2] built a sample, and patented it in 1918."

This claim – namely, that Hebern patented his cipher machine in 1918 – is repeated in the Wiki article "Edward Hugh Hebern".

These claims are false. Neither this article nor the article on Hebern cites any reference for this claim – because no such reference exists, because the claim is false.

In 1918, Hebern did indeed build a model of his cipher machine – it's displayed in the U.S. National Security Agency's museum (https://www.nsa.gov/resources/everyone/digital-media-center/image-galleries/cryptologic-museum/machines/) – however, he did NOT patent it in 1918.

In the records of the U.S. Patent Office, there is no record of a patent for a rotor cipher machine having been issued to Hebern in 1918.
Hebern's 1924 patent for a rotor cipher machine can be seen here: Hebern, Edward H., "Electric coding machine," U.S. Patent no. 1,510,441 (filed: 1921 March 31 ; issued: 1924 September 30)
There are multiple sources that state that Hebern applied for a patent for a rotor cipher machine in 1921 and that such a patent was issued in 1924. See, for example:

Kahn, David (1967). The Codebreakers: The Story of Secret Writing. New York City, New York, USA: Macmillan. p. 417.
Bauer, Friedrich L. (2007). Decrypted Secrets: Methods and Maxims of Cryptology (4th ed.). Berlin, Germany: Springer. p. 113.
Salomon, David (2003). Data Privacy and Security. New York City, New York, USA: Springer. p. 423.
Dooley, John F. (2016). Codes, Ciphers and Spies: Tales of Military Intelligence in World War I. New York City, New York, USA: Copernicus Books. p. 267.

Therefore, I am revising the above cited sentence to read:

"Hebern made his first drawings of a rotor-based machine in 1917,[2] and in 1918, he built a model of it; in 1921, he applied for a patent for his machine, and a patent for it was issued in 1924."

VexorAbVikipædia (talk) 23:28, 18 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]