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Motor-driven pin-wheel cipher machine with keyboard
The BC-38 was an electrically-driven mechanical cipher
machine designed and built by A.B. Cryptoteknik in
Sweden (later:
Hagelin). As the name suggests, it was derived from
the purely mechanical
C-38. The 'B' was added as a prefix to the
model number, to show that the device has a keyboard.
So, the BC-38 is in fact a C-38 with a motor and a
keyboard.
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The machine measures approx. 34 x 32 x 12 cm and is
therefore significantly larger that its manually
operated counterparts. It also needs an external power
source. The advantage of having a keyboard and
motor-driven operation however, is that it greatly
speeds up communication, e.g. in large command centres.
Furthermore, the BC-38 is equipped with a double printer
at the left; one for the plain text and one for the
cipher text. The output is printed directly onto a
narrow paper tape, and both printers can be used
simultaneously. |
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Although the machine is intended for operation from the
mains power network (110 or 220V), it can still be
operated manually, which is very useful in case of a
power loss. For this, a retractable handle is present on
the right. It is usually folded down and locked in a
neutral storage position, but can be released easily
when necessary.
The BC-38 was popular with the the US Army during WWII,
where it was used to communicate with
M-209 machines in the field. It was also used by the
governments of other countries during and after WWII,
such as Sweden and Norway. Production of the BC-38
started in the late 1030s and continued throughout the
1940s, until it was replaced with the slightly modified
and improved
BC-543 that look nearly identical.
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