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GAS53 319 (16 Dec 53) 1st Ind }.!, ~1i ""'•% 195!{ 

SUBJECT: Cryptographic Device of Dr. Oskar Vierling (W 009) 

Headquarters, Army Security Agency, Washington 25, D. C. 

TO: Chief, Army Security Agency, Europe, APO 757, c/o Postmaster, 

New York, New York 

1. NSA is desirous of purchasing subject device and will provide 

the necessary funds. Desire you ascertain whether device is for sale 

and if the price is the same as previously quoted. 

2. Transistors requested in basic letter are closely controlled 

items and although it is a subject of considerable interest to this 

Agency and NSA, research in this field as far as field units are concerned, is ordinarily restricted. 

3. In order to justify the procurement of transistors for Dr. 

Vierling, it will be necessary that this headquarters be provided 

with detailed infonnation concerning the nature of his experiments. 

If the transistors are provided, it is expected that this headquarters 

will be kept infonned of Dr. Vierling' s progress. 

1 Incl 

w/d 

Declassified and approved for release by NSA on 06-03-2014 pursuantto E.O. 1352\3 

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GECURPE'Y H.JFORMA':E'ION 

12 October 1953 

SUBJ.iCT; Crypto~raphic Device of Dr .Oskar Vierling 

(\?-005) 

'.:.

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0: Chief 

Army Security Agency Department of the Army 

'.!ashington 25 r D. ·J. 

l. Heference is made :Par 3, letter this headq_u:;.rters (W-002), dated 29 Sep·teruber 1953, subject as 

above. 

2. Forwarded for your information and reten.tion are 

the in.closed photographs of' the Vierling 3ehlue;;;;selscheibe, 

as mnde from a machine borrowed for the purpose from the 

firm of Heinrich Gertsch .A.G. of Zurich/Affoltern. Gertsch 

was visited by a NSA repreoentatiYe temporarily with this 

headqua.rters, who nas in Zurich on an official visit to 

Edgar Gretner A. G. l'b.e visit. to Gertsch was coordinated 

with the Assistant Army A ttache; i.n Switzerland. 

3. All matters related to the Vierling device are 

handled for Gertsch by a Dr. Cap:pus, a commercial represen:tative of the firm,. and a .reGerve colonel in ·the Swiss 

Army. Dr. Cappus, although neither an engineer nor a 

crypto,t;raphic specialist, appeared to be well briefed on 

the whole rr:atter of the Vierling equipment, and, incidentally, well acquainted 't;oi th the .Antheneum Stiftung. 

Ee stated that Atheneum had wanted him to handle their 

commercial. interests in Switzerland, when they first organized but that he had declined because of the pressure 

-of otl1er business. He intimated that he was not completely convinced of the coirlIDercial possibilities of 

Antheneum developed equipment. 

4. Dr. Cappus disclosed ifhat the Vierling devjce 

had been submitted to the Swiss .Army for any possible in- t~rest, through Colonel Leutwyler, chief of the Swiss 

Kr;iegstechnische Abtei.lung. Cappus thought that the Swiss 

!OP SECRElJ 

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• 12 Oct 53 

SUBJ: Cryptographic Device of Dr Oskar Vierling 

(W-005) 

autborities believed,tbe device to be adequate for low 

level troop use 9 but since they had adopted the Gretner 

cipher teleprinter as standard equipment for the A1.'my, 

thev had no further interest in additional low-level 

devices. His firo was thus free to manufacture and sell 

the Schluesselscheibe to any interested party. 

5. An additional item of information was furnished 

by Cappus who said that the Swiss government had at one 

time contemplated hiring Vierling to conduct a cryptographic research project at the Gertsch plant in Zurich. 

11he project was abandoned because of insufficient funds; 

the government being unwilling to request the Swiss 

Parliament for a special appropriation. Vierling, himself, has never mentioned this proposed project. 

6. The present status of patent rights on the deYice is not clear. Dr. Cappus clal.ms that his firm has 

all Swiss rights, but he knew that I,ieblrn.echt and 

Huettenhain had picked up the German rights. He is 

presently checking this matter, since he realizes that any 

poP-si ble sale of the device or manufacturing rights would 

be_ made more difficult by conflicts over patent rights. 

Cappus stated, as had Vierling, that ITagelin was negotiating for complete rights to the 4evice, again with the 

q_uestion of .German patent complicating the issue. Cappus 

claims that the only real barrier to the sale is the question of the price. 

7. A sample model will be purchased in the next 

few weeks and forwarded to your headquarters. 

-~·· 

H. C. JOHNSON 

Colonel, Infantry 

Chief 

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