Edward Hebern Edward Hugh Hebern ( April 23 , 1869 – February 10 , 1952 ) was an early inventor of rotor machine s , devices for encryption . Background . Edward Hugh Hebern was born in Streator , Illinois on April 23 , 1869 . His parents were Charles and Rosanna ( Rosy ) Hebern . They met in Harris County , Texas while Charles was serving as guard and escort from the civil war . On February 4 , 1866 they married in Harris , Texas . Rosanna was only fifteen years old . After mustering out of the service on May 29 , 1866 , Charles and his new wife returned to Springfield , Illinois , and on June 18 , 1866 he received his final pay and discharge . Edward had an older sister , Arizona ( Zoa ) born in 1867 , two younger brothers , Daniel Boone Hebern , born on February 17 , 1871 , and William Hebern , born April 8 , 1875 in Houston , Texas , as well as a younger sister , Nellie Hebern , born in 1874 . At the age of 6 , on August 4 , 1875 , Edward Hugh and three of his siblings were admitted to the Illinois Soldiers ’ and Sailors ’ home in Normal , Illinois . According to the Soldiers ’ home register their father was listed as having died in 1874 in an unknown location , but he was admitted to the same Soldiers ’ Home 40 years later . By February 13 , 1879 , the youngest Hebern child , William , was admitted to the Soldiers ’ Home . Six months later on August 12 , 1879 , Rosanna married Archibald Thompson in Bloomington , Illinois . On June 14 , 1881 , two months before her 14th birthday , Zoa left the Soldiers ’ Home . Edward was discharged from the Soldiers ’ Home in May 1883 , after turning 14 , and went to Odin , Illinois where he worked on a farm . By 1885 , Daniel , Nellie , and William were all in Odin , Illinois . Zoa married Edward F . Clark ( 27 yrs . old ) on August 18 , 1886 in Coffey County , Kansas . Then they headed to Utah . The rest of the children eventually moved to Madera , Ca . beginning with the two eldest boys in 1896 . Daniel Boone Hebern was in North Fork , California working as a laborer ; his brother , Edward Hugh Hebern was in Madera farming . Daniel purchased two plots of land in North Fork . Patent . He got a patent in 1919 , shortly before three others patented ( in other countries ) much the same thing . They were Arthur Scherbius in Germany , Hugo Koch in the Netherlands , and Arvid Damm in Sweden . Hebern started a company to market the Hebern rotor machine ; one of his employees was Agnes Meyer , who left the Navy in Washington DC to work for Hebern in California . Scherbius designed the Enigma , Koch sold his patent to Scherbius a few years later , and Damm ' s company — taken over by Boris Hagelin after his death — moved to Switzerland and is still in existence , as Crypto AG . By September 1922 Edward Hugh Hebern was so sure of imminent huge orders from the Navy and Army that he began building a factory in Oakland . The striking three - story structure was built to accommodate 1 , 500 workers and had a luxurious office for Hebern . The 1923 stockholders ’ report said it was “ one of the most beautiful structures in California and said to be the only building in the State of true Gothic architecture throughout . ” By the time it was completed the following year , it had cost somewhere between $ 380 , 000 and $ 400 , 000 , and the company still had no income . In fact , its first sale , to the Italian government , was still twenty - three months away . Eventually Hebern would sell twelve of his early machines to the Navy , the Pacific Steamship Company of Seattle , and a few other buyers , but his ambitious building was repossessed . The Hebern - Code building still stands today at 829 Harrison Street in Oakland and is primarily used as Oakland ’ s Asian resource center . Hebern ' s implementation of his idea was less secure than he believed , for William F . Friedman found at least one method of attack when it was offered to the US Government . Hebern ' s company did not prosper , his promotional efforts for it were questioned , and he was tried and convicted for fraud . Agnes Meyer returned to Washington to work for the Navy . Friedman went on to design a much more secure and complex rotor machine for the US Army . It eventually became the SIGABA .