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| This pocket-watch style device was made in Denmark around 1932-33. Few of these were produced. As of June 2011, only five of these pocket crypto devices are known to exist. |
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| All photos in this table via E-bay |
Danish Bayer Pocket Crypto Some extracts from 'Denmark Abroad' circa 1933, describe the KRYPTO Bayer device.
"This Danish invention was intended to do away with code books. Code books have a serious disadvantage. If one book in a private system is lost an entirely new one has to be compiled which means a loss of time and money. Even if the Bayer device were to fall into the wrong hands, there would be no chance of decoding the cipher because the key consists of two chosen numbers and two chosen letters.
The device is manufactured and sold by the A/S The Danish Cipher Machine Co. Ltd., Copenhagen, the leader of which was the well known Danish Tokio pilot Captain A.P. Botved. The system is based upon the theoretical calculations of the late A. Køhle, a Danish engineer. One of the officials of the Danish State Railways, P.G.G. Bayer succeeded in putting Køhle's theories into practical use. In conjunction with Captain Botved , the Danish Army Technical Corps and the Royal Engineers, the mechanical part of the device was resolved and designed.
The company is now making two types of cipher machines: a small one about the size of a pocket watch and a larger one working in combination with two teletypewriters. The two types can correspond with one another so that the cipher arranged by means of the small machine can be decoded by the larger unit and vice versa. The system of the larger machine is particularly ingenious. When a telegram is written on one machine , it comes out in code on the other; thus if the cipher message is copied on the one machine, the other writes it in clear language.
The Bayer device consists of two disks, or rings carrying two dials divided into 26 or 30 slots in which the alphabet is written. - either in alphabetical order or in any other order that is chosen. An inner dial carries 26 or 30 additional slots bearing figures figures and punctuation marks. The disks are moved in relation to each other by means of two springs, rotation being set in motion by depressing a release spring. The movement is stopped by means of two wheels revolving on pivots oe cam wheels arranged with intermediate spaces of unequal size which are numbered. The apparatus is always ready for use with the various springs being rewound automatically.The possibility of decoding messages encrypted on the Krypto device are extremely small since there are 7034 x 1061 combinations". (Does anyone have the succeeding pages from this article? Contact : jerry.proc@sympatico.ca)
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| This pocket-watch style device was made in Denmark around 1932-33. Few of these were produced. As of June 2011, only five of these pocket crypto devices are known to exist. |
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| All photos in this table via E-bay |
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| This example of the Bayer device is owned by John Alexander. (All photos in this table by John Alexander) |
Contributors and Credits:1) John Alexander <jalexuk(at)enigmaandfriends.com>
2) Michael Graham <counterforensics(at)mac.com>
Mar 27/12