Portal:United Kingdom/Picture/December 2005

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1. notched ring 2. marking dot for "A" contact 3. alphabet tyre 4. plate contacts 5. wire connections

6. pin contacts 7. spring-loaded ring adjusting lever 8. hub 9. finger wheel 10. ratchet wheel

In the history of cryptography, the Enigma was a portable cipher machine used to encrypt and decrypt secret messages. More precisely, Enigma was a family of related electro-mechanical rotor machines — there were a variety of different models.