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 six wheels and it DOES 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 "YNI LZWMK".
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.
You have received a secret message from your CIA friend at
headquarters in Langley, VA. Unfortunately your house keeper pulled
apart your decoder. The message was encoded with a six-wheel
cipher. It contains vital information needed to locate the
geocache.
ISJ SHZKE ZWOO ZVVY TYSIHMJB FHC WZV
BOJIGYA XI GIUFEDHL YQIT DI GGGHXLL ZMJFPE ZRVDFVJHX ZB IDJY YV IBE
YRLECO UC LFAFO JY BFV FHNRIB HP HVCJNXPX. NHJQLE PUPAZCK IBE
OINIQZWVE BOEOWCO UFAZCK IJ HNR CIFOIBL FK OL6 (CJDWLLR VJNIEB
DFOEHPLREKLV LECMLDE). BFV GYVWPPBOII ORTW EJK SXB IEXQVLIOK IJ
NORCJJJ VDPJ IQIX FV PDDZBJB WI BFV FHHPDAFKG HJSTWLJY. KUPOR
BFLIIE HLZE IJXIEOE CGDBV CGOO YDGYB HDPJ ODXBI BND YFKQIVM, QJOO
HKJ ZPYIRVE DDHIVEK KVRJOJO JYO YDGYB JLRRB ELQ YDIV YFKQIVM.
ZPVWMO WQNE UXPV LSJF XHN RVWSS WZV ZCJQ FHC WZV JLLJL ZCJ YVJE
HPWCDPV. VYVQPV ISXI XHNR CJHB XFE RTIBBHHKO WJO EVDKCJ TBEK
LHGBYDFR. F SXYV DLQFE ISXI ORORV WJO WTJ LTVO OH VLQHE BFV IHUA.
IBE KUPOR VDBV FV WDJ XDHCGSNPI OH UPLYW QDIBHNW OJBO HVWJ LH
CWGHDFR. CL WD ORO NVLI VDBV IL LHGBY WZV JLLJ DJOMLDE.
.
Listed below are the five encryption wheels that will be used to
decrypt the message. Note that the wheels are in no particular
order. The yellow band identifies that they have not been
shifted.
Cache container is a small silver painted tin container, which
is inconspicuously covered with rocks. Searching for this cache
should be done during late spring and or winter months.
Hiking
Warning