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The Enigma B was developed in 1924 as the successor
to the Enigma A (1923).
Unlike the Enigma A, which featured a rotating print head, the new machine
used type bars (German: Typenhebel).
Rotating print heads had proven to be unreliable at high speeds and type bars were
already used widely in common typewriters.
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The Enigma B was first developed in 1924 and was a nicely finished machine.
The image on the right shows the Enigma B as seen from the top. It features
a rather large keyboard with the standard alphabet (A-Z), numbers and
punctuation marks.
At the bottom is the spacebar (black). To the left of the
space bar is the numbers shift, which needed to be pressed before entering
numbers or punctuation marks. When this key was pressed, it also produced a space.
To the right of the space bar is the letter-key that had to be pressed
before entering letters again. When pressed, it also produced a space.
The coding wheels had only 26 contacts, so only the letters A-Z were included
in the coded message. A clever system for switching between alphabets was used,
such as the one described in patent DE412582.
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The machine looks like a standard typewriter with a large extention on the right.
The current message key can be set with a series of knobs on the right side
of the machine. The current settings, consisting of 4 letters and 5 numbers,
can be read from a window at the front of the large extension.
The actual coding parts are mostly hidden behind the machine's front cover.
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The two photographs on this page came with a description of the
machine in 1926 and were found in the archives of the FRA in Sweden.
The one above has been seen before but the one on the left is rather
unique as it shows the Enigma B with the front cover removed, revealing
the actual coding wheels.
Click the image to take a closer look.
The Enigma B was very heavy and was therefore generally mounted on a sturdy
metal table, such as the one shown in the image.
Both above images are courtesy FRA Sweden.
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The Enigma B was first developed in 1924 and had many production and reliability
problems. Two years later, in 1926, a new version of the Enigma B was introduced.
The differences between the two variants are currently unknown, but it is
likely that their physical appearance was largely identical.
In 1929, the Enigma B was replaced by the Enigma H.
At present, no further information is available.
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