PATENT RECORD 

Address 0£ Government ( Arlington Hall Station 

Station Where Inventors( 4000 Lee Blvd. 

are Located ( Arlington,, Virginia 

To The Chief Signal Officer: 

I/D believe myself/euix nl1ba& to be sole inventor~ of an 

(sole or joint''" 

authenticating device, 

and request that you inveatigate its military value, patentability. and 

inventorship. 'In support of this request the .following information is 

submitted: 

At the time I,,,- conoei ved the invention, my/ma: employment was Director 

.-o.f..=-C.-om=·--R .. es.-e.,.a""'r,..c ... h.., •....;;;S•SA;;;;.. _____ .. I/'ls originally con.ceived the idea in Se~t. 1943 

and communicated it to: Ma..jor Leo Rosen 22 October l94J.date -;.cna=--m~e·s~),;;;..-..;;;;;.;;-.:;...__,, ______ _...--....-.;;;~.--=-.~ca.a~t-e~}~~!~~ 

The first written and dated reoords are 8 June 1944·, f'irs1( d!tai1ed 

description and drawing. 

lt was first actually tried not tried with the resul~ that 

(date} ------

f'or authenticating messages• parti.cularly banking messages 

Its uses are/ invglying tnA :t.rJLn~fer of~rownwn~81'\J.lto·,--~...-....... ,.....--=~--=...-oe--~~--~ Others associated with me/.Jm in this development or having knowledge 

concerning it are: 

Ma.Jar Leo Rosen. Sgt. He1!2"f B. Stauffer. 

Attached are 4 sheets. each initialed and dated by me/zK and two 

disinterested witnesses, giving a detailed description of the invention, :a 

and a clear statement of' what is believed 

to be new. 

I/wit agree to abide by the decision of the Patent Board or or the Chie.f 

Signal Officer and will promptly exeoute all papers required of me/«S: by 

these authorities includigg an assignment of the invention to the Government 

if it is decided by the Patent Board and confirmed by the Chief Signal 

Of.fioer~ that the application should be kept s?:"'f~f· • • 

Signature 1

. Signatur~.W~~ - / Dir. ot Com. 

Rank, p9si tion or employment Research. SSA.. 

• Ss'Y. / 3932 Military Road, 

>~~~ μ~/~GG.ie_..t---.1 Legal residence Wa:shington 15,, D. c. 

/ / Present home P. O. address Same 

~ 

of . ~fgnat e I Y" Date of signature 12 Jt,me 1944 

C/ 4 sesy~Date~u~/fff Witnesses: ¥ 

- :i. r ~ VL 

A.R. ou ine the procedure 

inventions to the Chief Signal Officer. If the invention relates to Signal 

Corps equipment this form together with a full descrj.ption of the invention 

should be forwarded directly to the Chief Signal Officer. If the invention 

relates to equipment of another arm of service, the invention should be 

submitted directly to that arm or service. 

Most descriptions of' inventions received by the Signal Corps from 

inventions are too brief', vague and indefinite for the purpose of preparing 

patent applications. The Chief Signal Officer insists on very complete and 

clear descriptions~ 

Declassified and approved for release by NSA on 07-29-2014 pursuant to E. 0. 1352B 
.............. --------------------~~~~~~~~~~~~--~~ 

' • ·~REF ID: A364Sd 

flONFIDENTIAl ~ 

Authenticating Device for Banks 

1. Reference is made to my previous invention 

of a 11Message Authenticati:!:lg System" covered by U. s. 

Patent No. 2,080,416, issued 18 May 1937. Said patent 

was processed through the Signal Corps and the invention 

described therein ma.y be manufactured and used by or for 

the.Government for governmental purposes, without the 

~ayment to me of any royalty thereon. 

2. The present invention has a similar purpose 

but accomplishes it in a simpler way, which will be 

briefly described in the succeeding paraEraphs, in 

connection with Figure 1. 

3. A series of 10-point cipher rotors, l, 

of the type co:mm.only employed for cryptographic purposes, 

are e.ssembled "in cascade" upon a shaft, 2, in some key 

order. The internal wirings or cross-connections within 

the rotors are all different and each rotor carries an 

identifying letter or number. A co1::plete circuit through 

the set of rotors traverses a path which is deterr.lined 

by the specific order in which the rotors are arranged on 

the shaft, the specific rotatory positions in which the 

rotors ·:.re placed, and the specific wiring of the rotors. 

'I'he left-hand stator, 3, has ten input contacts, 4, si:x: 

0£ which are connected by plugs and jacks to the six 

. contacts arranged in an arc on insulator strip, 5. A contact 

lever arm, 6, pivoted at 7, serves to establish contact 

!'rom battery, 8, to one of the si:x: contacts, 9, on the strip, 

5, and thence into one of the input contacts. 4, of the 

stator, 3. The current thereupon traverses the rotors. 

emerges at one of the ten contacts, 10, of the right-hahd 

CDNFIDENTIAl 

-1-
REF ID:A3645. 

- CONFIBENTIAt 

stator, 11, and thence returned to batter, 8, through 

one of the few indicating la.'11.ps • 12. to illuminate 

that lamp. The specific lamp which will be illuminated 

will be determined by the rotor setting or key and the 

particular contact made at the contact strip 5. Thus. 

as lever 6 is moved to one of the contact positions, 

a cert;:i.in lamp will illumina.ted; another lamp will be 

illumin~ted as lever 6 is moved to another contact 

position. and so on. Thus, moving lever 6 through its 

three top positions successively will cause three lamps 

to be lighted successively. A removable cardboard strip, 

13, in t.l-ie card-holder• 14, serves to identify the la..Titps 

and represents another variable element in the keying 

system. Thus, with a given key and a specific strip 13, 

moving the· lever 6 through the three upper positions will 

cause three lamps to be lighted, f'iving a number such 

as 759 11 for example. Moving the lever 6 through the 

three lmver positions will yield a different 3-digit 

number, for example 63¢.· 

4. The method of' using the device as an 

authenticating means is as follows. It is usual current 

practice first to encode the telegram in the Bank's private 

code or else in some suitable code. The test group is then 

composed, based upon certain test elements in the telegram". 

as arranged by preagreement among the banks concerned. The 

test group is usually a numerical group of two or three 

digits. which group is then looked up in the code and its 

letter group equivalent is set dovrn as the final group 

of the message. All the foregoing procedure rem.a.ins 

OONF IBENTIAL 

-2-
e REF ID :·A3645. 

eot~f \DENl\ At 

uncha~ged in practicing my invention except that the 

composition of the numerical ~est group is accomplished 

by the machine discussed herein. This part of the 

operation will now be described. 

Having the ma.chine at hand, the daily key is 

set up, consisting of the specific order in which the 

rotors are assembled on the shaft. The first two rotors 

are set to the serial number of the message; the next 

rotor is set to indicate what currency is involved 

(dollars, pounds, etc); the next six rotors are set 

toa:>rrespond with the amount of money to be checked or 

authenticated, six rotors providing for all amounts from 

l to 999,999. Figure l shows the rotors set to.message 

serial number 35, and to the quantity, U. S. $9,756,125. 

(Additional rotors may be provided to take care of 

other test elements, such as the initial letter or 

letters of the name of the beneficiary of the transfer) 

If the telegram ~ransferring $9,756,125 is going from 

New York to London, for exa..mple, then the switch lever 

6 may be moved, by preagreement, through the upper three 

positions successively, yielding, for example, the 

authenticating group 759; if the telegram. is going from 

London to New York, the switch lever 6 may be moved 

through the lower three positions yielding, for example, 

the group 63ft. Thus the authenticating group is diffe~ent, 

depending upon the message· serial number, the currency, 

the amount involved, and the direction of the transfer. 

-3-

CONFIDENTIAL 
REF ID:A364!JM .._.. 

CONFIDENTIAt 

On each day. since a different permutation of rotors. 

a different pluJ;ging arrange:-:1ent at the left-hand 

stator. and a different card oan be employed. the test 

number would be different. The :!;est number would th.en 

be encoded as usua.~by reference to the codebook employed. 

The number 759 might be represented by the code word 

ROXIP; 63}i by PILYD. 

5. No mee.ns are shown in Figure 1 f'or 

automatically angularly displacing the rotors during 

a single test but the addition of such means is within 

the scope nnd forms a part of the invention. 

6. The bank receiving the telegram,after 

the usual decoding of the code message, notes the test 

data and the test group contained therein. It then 

sets up its plugs. c~rd strip. and rotors according to 

the da.il.:i key and then aligns the rotors to correspond 

to the test data carried by the telegram. Upon_ operating 

the lever 6 it will obtain exactly the same test number 

which is conveyed bJ the telegram itself'. thus attesting 

to the authenticity of the transfer as well as to the 

accuracy of the a.mount. insofar as the latter is pos&ible. 

considering that 10 x 9 x 8 to 720 dif'fer:ant test groups 

is the maximum number obtainable from one key setting of' 

the rotors and there are 10 million amounts which can Qe 

set up. This, however. is a feature which is unavoidable. 

is common to all testing systems of this nature, and does 

not vitiate the systems to any serious degree. 

-4-

CONFIDENTIAL 
Authenticating Device 

1. Reference is made ·to my previous invention of a "Message 

·Authenticating System" covered by U. S. Patent No. ~,080,416, 

issued 18 May 1937. Said patent was processed through.the Signal 

Corps and the invention described therein may be manufactured and 

used by or for the Government for governmental purposes, without 

the payment to me of any royalty thereon. 

2. The present invention has a similar purpose but accomplishes it_in a simpler way, which will be briefly described in 

the succeeding paragraphs, in connection with Fig. 1. 

3. A series of 10-point cipher rotors, 1, of the type 

commonly em~loyed for cryptographic purposes, are assembled 

nin cascade' upon a shaft, 2, in some key order. The internal 

wirings of the rotors are all different and each rotor carries 

an identifying symbol. A complete circuit through the set of 

rotors traverses a path which is determined by the specific order 

in which the rotors are arranged on the shaft, the specific rotatory positions in which the rotors are•placed~ and the wiring of the 

rotors. The left-hand stator, 3, has ten input contacts, 4, six 

of which are connected by plugs and jacks to the six contacts 

arranged in an arc on insulator strip, 5. A contact lever arm, 6, 

pivoted at 7, serves to establish contact from battery, 8, to one 

of the six contacts, 9, on the strip, 5, and thence into one of 

the input contacts, 4, of the stator, 3. The current thereupon 

traverses the rotors, emerges at one of the ten contacts, 10, of 

the right-hand stator, 11, and thence returns to battery, 8, 

through one of. ten indicating lamps, 12. The specific lamp which 

will be illUl'Ilinated will be determined by the rotor setting and 

the particular contact made at the contact strip, 5. Tb.us, as 

lever 6 is moved to one of the contact positions, a certain lamp 

will be illUl'Ilinated momentarily; another lamp will be illUl'Ilinated 

a.s lever 6 is moved to another contact position, and so on. Thus, 

moving lever 6 through its three top positions successively will 

cause three lamps to be lighte.d successively. A removal cardboard 

strip, 13, in the card-holder, 14, serves to identify the lamps and 

represents another variable element in the keying system. Thus, 

with a given key and a specific strip 13, moving the lever 6 through 

the three upper positions will cause three lamps to be lighted, 

giving a number such as 759, for example. Moving the lever 6 

through the three lower :positions will yield a differer...t 3-digit 

number, for example 63¢. A co:nnection-changing plugboard may be 

inserte"d. between the right-hand stator, 11, 9..nd the bank of indicating lamps, this serving to take the place of the variable 

ce .. rdboard strip 13, or as an additional variant in the system. 

4. The method of using the device as an authenticating 

means is as follovrs. It is the usual current practice first 

to encode the telegram in the Bank's private code or else in 

OONFIDENT!AL . .:;J (!. . -
·' 

some other suitable code. The test group is then composed, based upon certain test elements in the telegram, as arranged by preagreement among the banks concerned. The test group is 

usually a numerical group of two or three digits, which group is then looked up in the code and its letter group equivalent is set down as the final group of the message. All the foregoing procedure rem.a.ins unchanged in practicing my invention 

except that the composition of the numerical test group is 

accomplished by the ma.chine discussed herein. This part of the 

operation will now be described. Having the machine at hand, 

the daily key is set up, consisting of the specific order in 

which the rotors are assembled on the shaft. The first two 

rotors are set to the serial number of. the message; the next 

rotor is set to indicate what currency is involved (dollars, 

pounds, etc.); the next six rotors are set to correspond with 

the amount of noney to be checked or authenticated, six rotors 

providing for all amounts from l to 999,999. Fig. 1 shows the 

rotors set to messa~e serial number 35, and to .the quantity, 

U. ~. $9,756,125. (Additional rotors may be provided to take 

care of other test elements, such as the initial letter or 

letters of the name of the beneficiary of the transfer.) If 

the telegram transferring $9,756,125 is going from New York to 

London, for example, then the switch lever 6 may be moved, by 

preagreement, through the upper three positions successively, 

yielding, for example, the authenticating group 759; if the 

telegram is going from London to New York, the switch lever 6 

may be moved through the lower three positions yielding, for 

example, the group 63¢. Thus the authenticating group is 

different, depending upon the message serial number, the 

currency, the amount involved, and the direction of the transfer. 

On each day, since a different permutation of rotors, a different 

plugging arrangement at the left-hand stator, and a different · card can be employed, the test number would be different. The 

test number would then be encoded as us-ua,l, by reference to the 

codebook employed. The number 759 might be represented by the 

code word ROXIP; 63¢ by PILYD. . 

5. No means are shown in Fig. 1 for automatically a.n:::;ularly displacing the rotors during a single test but the addition of 

such means is within the scope and forms a part of the invention. 

6. The bank receiving the telegram after the usual decoding 

of the code message, notes the test data and the test group contained therein. It then sets up its plugs, card strip,. and 

rotors according to the daily key and then aligns the rotors to 

correspond to.the test data carried by the telegram. Upon operating the lever 6 it will obtain exactly the same test number 

which is conveyed by the telegram itself', thus attesting to the 

authenticity of the transfer as well.as to the accuracy of the 

CONF!BENT!Al 

-2-

~.J.~ 8'~44 

~ /?-'~~ ~ lorJ~lff-1 
.a. ... 

amount, insofar as the latter is possible, considering that 

10 x 9 x 8 or "720 different test groups is the maximum number 

obtainable from one key setting of the rqtors and there are 

10 million amounts which can be set up. This, however, is a 

feature which is unavoidable, is common to all testing systems of this nature, and does not vitiate the system to any serious 

degree. 

* * * * * 

I believe that I am the inventor of the device disclosed 

in the foregoing sheets. 

8 June 1944. 

William 

CIV.Ji..~ F. Friedman. a:-~~ / 

I have read and understand the above disclosure. 

CONFIDENTIAl. 
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