Pictures of the M4 Uhr box are located below the following text – scroll down to view.
Hello, Cryptocollectors!
Dan Perera here from Enigma Museum. I rarely chime in with this group but am
continually amazed at the knowledge and thoroughness of everyone’s input on
various crypto subjects.
I have an “enigma” for the group to ponder.
As some of you who were present at last year’s Enigma Forum at the
Friedrichshafen Ham Fest in Germany know, we were shown a damaged Enigma Uhr
box. The box was in rough shape but generally complete.
The mystery is that this Uhr box had the long Stecker pins (approx. 19mm) associated
with the M4 4-rotor Kriegsmarine Enigma. The Uhr box was developed in 1944 for
use by the Luftwaffe and their 3-rotor Enigma I machines. Stecker pins for the
Enigma I are approximately 15mm long. Use of the longer M4 Stecker pins in an
Enigma I would cause damage to the shorting bars located behind the Steckerboard
on the backside of each Stecker socket. We have not seen an Uhr box with these longer M4 pins and are curious as to its history and intended use.
Some additional information about the Uhr:
1. The Uhr box came to us from Norway. Our agent in Norway had this comment: “The item came from the Forsvarsmuseet in Oslo. Probably came this box together with a lot of other boxses and Enigmas, mostly 4-rotors.They were found on the loft in the Army-intelligence-building at Akershus Fortress in Oslo in the late 80-ies or beginning of 1990. Most of the Marine-Enigmas and Uhrbokses sold in Norway comes from this lot.”
2. It has the letter “M” hand written on the box in red.
3. It has the numbers “256” hand written on the box in blue.
4. The screws on the Stecker plugs do not show any evidence of being unscrewed.
No shiny parts. No mis-figured screw slots.
5. The knob used to change the Stecker configuration is metal where most all
known Uhr boxes have wooden knobs.
6. The Uhr box is damaged. The hinged side of the box is broken and the top is separated from the bottom. The hardware is still present. It does not look like someone intentionally tried to destroy the Uhr as the switching mechanism and Stecker cables are intact and working.So, the question is: Why does this Uhr box have M4 style Stecker pins?
7. Within the wooden top of Uhr boxes are holes to accommodate the Steckers when the Uhr is not in use and the top is closed. The depth of these holes are appropriate for the shorter Enigma I Stecker pins. The longer M4 type Stecker pins on this Uhr box prevent the Steckers from being able to be fully pressed into these holes.
Does anyone have any information about the possible use of the Uhr box by the
Kriegsmarine?
We can speculate as to why this Uhr box has M4 Stecker pins, however we thought it best to ask this group as well.
We have created a web page with this text and pictures for your review.
We would appreciate any feedback.
Thank you,
Dan
