The U.S. Army used a cipher device called the M-94.The device consisted of 25 alphabet discs and a shaft. The disk can be mounted on the shaft in any order; they may be rotated relative to each other or may be fixed. On the rim of each alphabet disk there is stamped a different disarranged alphabet. At it’s inside or cup surface each alphabet disk is marked with a number. The numbers run from 1 to 25.
Leo Battista Alberti invented the underlying principle cryptographic -revolving, exchangeable alphabet wheels - during the fifteenthcentury. It has been reinvented by different people over the time: Thomas Jefferson, Major Bazeries (~1901), Colonel Parker Hitt (1914), and may be others. The US-Navy used the device as CSP-488.
The message below is encrypted using a variant of the U.S.Army’s M-94 wheel cipher. It uses sixteen wheels and does not randomize the order of the alphabet. A good way to visualize a wheel cipher, in 2-dimensional space, is shown in the table below. It represents a five-wheel wheel cipher. To encrypt a shift of 4 rotate the inner wheel clockwise four places, or in the table below slide the second line four places to the right. The encryption key is said to be the number of places you rotate the inner wheel, relative to the outermost wheel.
The example above has an encryption key 4, 13,15, 22. Using this encryption key, the word "LAS VEGAS" is encrypted to "HND ZATLW". To encrypt the first letter of the word you locate it on the first wheel and encrypt it to the corresponding letter on the second wheel. For the second letter of the word you use the first wheels and encrypt it to the corresponding letter on the second wheel. Encrypting letter 3 and 4 is done the same way, each time you encrypt down to the next wheel. The fifth and other letters that letter the pattern is repeated. Spaces, special characters and numbers are disregarded during the encryption and decryption process.
The following message was encoded with a sixteen-wheel cipher. It contains vital information needed to locate the geocache.
Oqpb acgn, wjv yubt uavhbqmuw yftcvwwdit qvbb kztjumt tk yifbz j tzsjcuc gr xxb Okvw rivyr tfovomhbxl. Ipn cz xk fmcb hh ypjdvyj ig flu zovqc njky. Zww rmhph ijpo pw sujj vskobxh udmc lkfmuvu vcn cm ajex zww oidqsk xd v dzliaw. Fs vfbw cfz dvhztj aj jes vrpxmv C cxdx kyss rxs oiiyk egurjp (qhxpyjeuztk) ar jes vrpxvdzkgwzgu lt mqc xjiwrt. Xurt qvx ayyjlm lggy xxb haacz qfctik ar jes vrpxmv. Juxff E: dlfmq rcjine uahi tbukncn, gzzzn wukxq dhrlo ozhk owds ifl frlpuvm, ctkf sdb vnwbmfu zoulqid aszaczt, kqkclk wussg ymdok mom kub jtc frlpuvm. Vdazx R: kckcf oizlzn xuzu aszaczt, wcliq zmdb dhrlo tvpkc lis eks frlpuvm, ctkf sdb vnwbmfu zoulqid aszaczt, kqkclk wyu dhrlo tvpkc lis vfjx vgivkyy. Egurj Z: bharc uycxiq rmlb rxppzfj, zoulk ryks ixgiu wiag kqzuk thdp hjeoztk, iiiq cgn fpoulks xujjbsg mcbsvyy, ioqrjv thdp kpzhz ioa jerf mqpzf dctjlqw. Oli fdqo svuiw lti sbbmnp jg kbk radgbb hh ogie kbk Pdfsya hbw rcbk wuclmmdp han lpnsyx izmx mfze kc nvsnxpufit cfhv rcf syggazk draunp 290 yfxlktk yewksmra ipinn. Izq gqzvx rq gptuztv ar jes vrpxvdzkgwzgu lt mqc xjiwrt, tgx yq wl wmo pey uu lti mxmixgiuj fohlqh. Vocf cfz dvhztj aj jes vrpxmv suj oupb ksxm rj uiubtd mx q estmgih fz 290 jtydiup atplzuzw tdjfl cfbnb rcf eosqwd jhla mqc Vmkios lur jl uxc rcf klat zqetfbz cm oiv wgrzq sd qvx lgmdlgltjqrsb.
To make it easier for you I will give you the first setting. The first decryption wheel is a shift of 8.
Cache container is a small metal canister, which is inconspicuously covered with rocks.