The Jefferson Cylinder
I invite you, through a serie of cache, to move in the encoding and encryption universe.
The caches will be published gradually until July ans will all be visible on this list: Encoding and encryption.
In each cache you will have to solve an enigma and validate your answer with "certitude" at the end of the description. It will give you somme coordinates intentionally incorrect (that you won't figure) and the famous clue. Keep it (and remember to hide what they were associated) to obtain the coordinates of the bonus cache and some important informations because it will not open "by it own" ...
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Thomas Jefferson, around 1793, when he was George Washington secretary of state and future President of the United States, had designed an ingenious tool to send short messages encoded in the military operations "on field". Jefferson cylinder consists of a serie 25 or 26 wheels, nested along a fixed axis, and rotatable independently of each other with on the axis. On each wheel, there are 26 letters in the alphabet, but written in any order (never the same for each wheel).
To encrypt the word CYLINDER, the wheels are rotated so to bring up the word in a line in front of our eyes. Then choose another line, for example, that just below, and sending the series of letters in it.
The recipient, who received EGAFQYOR writes the word on one of the lines of the cylinder that is in the possession (must be exactly the same as the sender) and search on another line where a clear message appears.
It is indeed a polyalphabetic substitution because each wheel alphabets are different, and if A is followed by F on the first wheel, it may well be followed by H on the second wheel.
Jefferson gave up the use of this cylinder from 1802. Several years later, he was re-invented by the French colonel Bazeries in 1891, but the French authorities refused its use, and the Italian Colonel Ducros in 1900.
The US military itself even reinvent some sort of cylinder Jefferson, the CSP-488 (also known as M-94) from 1922 to 1942
On the previous picture, we see that the discs are mounted on a shaft and retained by a knurled nut. We can easily change the order. The encryption key is the order in which these discs are available. With 26 discs were still 26! combinations, so more than 4 × 10 exp26 combinaisons !
This device is fear not dust, mud or rain ... it was ingenious for frontline use, especially as its handling is easy for non-specialists.
Source: Bibmath
La cache :
It's a well knowned place of connoisseurs ... to watch the fireworks fired from the lake.
I discovered this place due to a very nice old serie of RMB74 now archived: CLUEDO
What you have to decode:
LIARTBJBPLSUIGBVXKFQAUTQKN
You will find all you need to uncode it in the cache
The container is sealed, which means that if water enters ... it will remain there and deteriorate it contains.
The cylinder is not "well adjusted", please don't force on the rings
Please if you can, look for this cache in dry or take what it takes to shelter the box from rain
You can validate your solution with certitude which will give you part of the future final Bonus cache coordinates.
Answer in "number"
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