Wheatstone Cryptograph

Wheatstone Cryptograph, English, circa 1870, the nickeled body with printed alpha-numeric ring, indicator arm and pointer, the center signed The Cryptograph. C. Wheatstone, Inv'r. , with stylus and two manuscript rings, in velvet lined leather box, 5 in. square (case warped and hinge torn). Sir Charles Wheatstone's work on telegraphy led, naturally, to his interest in code and ciphering. In the early 1850s he developed a cipher for telegraphy, known as the Playfair Cipher, after his friend, and fellow cipher enthusiast, Lyon Playfair, who did much to promote it. He introduced his latest invention, the Cryptograph at the 1867 Paris Exposition. Coincidently similar to a device from 1817 by Col. Decius Wadsworth, it appears Wheatstone arrived at his invention independently. The Cryptograph attracted considerable interest from the start but flaws in its security were noted within a few years, and going by the few survivors, it was probably not a commercial success. This may also be in part to Wheatstone being an academic, not a business man who would be interested in activley promoting his invention.