{"id":917,"date":"2026-07-26T19:01:50","date_gmt":"2026-07-26T17:01:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sfisqlu.cluster100.hosting.ovh.net\/?page_id=917"},"modified":"2026-07-28T13:05:03","modified_gmt":"2026-07-28T11:05:03","slug":"presentation","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/sfisqlu.cluster100.hosting.ovh.net\/index.php\/wheatstone-cryptograph\/presentation\/","title":{"rendered":"Presentation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\"\"<\/a>
Wheatstone cryptograph – Science Museum<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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The Wheatstone cryptograph was a cipher device invented by Charles Wheatstone around 1867.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It has 2 alphabets arranged in rings. The outer ring is fixed and holds the alphabet in regular order, plus a space or blank. The inner ring has 26 positions in which individual letters can be inserted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The device has two hands connected to gears which have a different number of teeth, so that when the long hand makes a complete turn the short hand also make a full turn and advances one position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Use<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To set up the device, the inner alphabet is ordered according to the key, which may be created by any chosen way although Weatstone proposes a method.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wheatstone’s method for building the alphabet from a keyword<\/summary>\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  • Write the keyword, then the remaining letters of the alphabet horizontally below it. If a letter appears more than once in the keyword, the later occurrences are still written down, but struck through. For example, with the keyword “Sebastopol”:<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
    S E B A S<\/s> T O P O<\/s> L\nC D F G H I J K M N\nQ R U V W X Y Z<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
      \n
    • Take the letters off vertically, omitting those that have been struck through<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
      S C Q E D R B F U A G V H W T I X O J Y P K Z M L N<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
        \n
      • The letters are put in the inner ring in that order, with the first (here, S) placed under the blank.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/details>\n\n\n\n
        Wheatstone recommends to then move the hands to point at the blank. The starting position of the hands could be different, however, and part of the key to add security.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
        In the same manner, the direction of rotation was assumed by Wheatstone to always be clockwise but could be different and an additional part of the key.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
        To encipher<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n
        Turn the long hand in the chosen direction until the plain text letter appears in its window: the letter the short hand points to is the cipher letter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
        Keep turning the long hand, always in the same direction, and writing down the letter given by the short hand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
          \n
        • A space between words is enciphered the same way as the letters, with the long hand pointing to the blank.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
        • When a double letter occurs, either one is omitted or an unusual letter (like Q) is inserted between them.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
        • At the end of a sentence, Wheatstone recommends to reset the hands at their starting positions and to indicate this in the ciphertext with a dash.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
          To decipher<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n
          Deciphering is done the same way as enciphering: the long hand is turned in the same direction until the small hand points to the cipher letter, and the plain letter is then read off the long hand.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
          The Wheatstone cryptograph was a cipher device invented by Charles Wheatstone around 1867. It has 2 alphabets arranged in rings. The outer ring is fixed and holds the alphabet in regular order, plus a space or blank. The inner ring has 26 positions in which individual letters can be inserted. The device has two hands […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":915,"menu_order":1,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"wheatstone","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-917","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\nPresentation - Classical Cipher Contraptions<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/sfisqlu.cluster100.hosting.ovh.net\/index.php\/wheatstone-cryptograph\/presentation\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Presentation - Classical Cipher Contraptions\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Wheatstone cryptograph was a cipher device invented by Charles Wheatstone around 1867. It has 2 alphabets arranged in rings. 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