Hebern Rotor Machine
Built by Edward Hebern in 1917, this was the world’s first electric rotor cipher machine.
A single rotor contains 26 hard-wired connections that scramble the alphabet. After each keypress
the rotor advances one position, changing the substitution. The keyboard sends electrical current
through the rotor wiring to light a lamp on the lampboard.
Hebern patented the device and founded the Hebern Electric Code Company in 1921.
Though the single-rotor design was cryptographically weak (broken by William Friedman in 1923),
it directly inspired the multi-rotor designs of Enigma, SIGABA, and Typex. Hebern died in 1952,
never realizing his invention’s profound impact on cryptographic history.