As physical reconstruction is one of the tools of the historian's
trade, the following item from another list may be of interest to
Mersenne members.
You may like to be reminded that the 'bombes' in question here
were electromechanical devices used at Bletchley Park in World War 2
to decrypt enemy messages that used the Enigma cipher.
The URL of the Bombe Rebuild Project is
http://www.jharper.demon.co.uk/bombe1.htm.
JVF
Date: Sun, 28 Apr 2002 08:33:37 +0100
Sender: Bletchley Park discussion <[log in to unmask]>
From: John Harper - Bombe Rebuild Project <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: [BPARK] Bombe Rebuild - Major Milestone Acheived
To: [log in to unmask]
Status:
To all those who have been following our Rebuild Project:
Recently we have completed the Mechanical Phase of our Bombe Rebuild and
can demonstrate all shafts etc running. These run under DC power as in
the original.
Watching the carry mechanisms operate is quite fascinating. Those who
worked on the original machines tell us that the noise made brings back
strong memories.
A major assembly exercise took place over a two week period as promised
a long time ago. When we started the whole top of the frame was bare but
now it is full af mechanisms adding something like 5 cwt. to the overall
weight.
The team now needs to "take a breath" before putting more energy into
the electrical phase which incidentally is well underway but not at BP.
The intention is to carry out a major update of our WEB site in the next
few weeks where picture of our work will be seen. Meantime the machine
is on display in the Bombe Hut at BP with the rear visible through the
viewing window.
We will let this list know when our WEB site is updated
All the best
--
John Harper - Bombe Rebuild Project
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