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The B-21 was the first cipher machine developed by Boris
Hagelin. He designed the machine in 1925 when he was
working for the company A.B. Cryptograph of Arvid
Gerhard Damm in Stockholm (Sweden). The B-21 was in
production for many years, even after WWII when the
company had moved to Switzerland. It was available in
many different versions and variations.
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At the request of the invenstors - the Nobel family -
Hagelin was placed in the company in 1922 as a
controller. From 1925 onwards, Hagelin was the acting
director, whilst Damm was persuing business in France.
When the Swedish Army wanted to buy
Enigma machines in 1925, Hagelin proposed his own
machine: the B-21. It was based on Damm's initial
patented design of the B-18, using two coding wheels.
Hagelin improved the design by adding two of his famous
pin-wheels to each of the coding wheels
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Over the years, the design of the B-21 was changed and
improved a number of times. The image above shows one of
the first versions and was probably conceived in 1927,
or shortly thereafter, as it still carries the original
company name: AB Cryptograph. It is battery
powered and is likely to have been modified at least
once during its lifetime. It was delivered to L.M.
Ericsson (the phone company) for use by its subsidaries
in South America, hence the presence of the
Ericsson label on the wooden transit case.
At the request of the French Army, an improved version
of the B-21, the B-211, was
developed. It featured a printer instead of the light
bulbs. Eventually, the developments for the French Army
led to a range of power-less designs, the so-called
C-machines, starting with the
C-35.
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