The American inventor Edward Hebern (1869-1952) designed a series of machines for encrypting messages. The Smithsonian collections include a few of these as part of accession 1991.0190. Like many inventors, Hebern accumulated a variety of spare parts. These are some of them, part of museum transaction 1991.3033.
These three black bakelite components twould fit on the shaft of cipher machine. Two have metal spring contacts and three notches in the edge. There are no springs in three holes of one component which is marked: L. The third piece is a disc with a rim and three holes near the center. It is marked: RIGHT No. 1.
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