Orville Wright’s Secret Cipher Machine
Beyond flight innovation.
Orville Wright cemented his legacy when he and his brother, Wilbur, built the world’s first practical airplane, forever changing the course of human history. While the Wright brothers are certainly best known for conquering the skies, their inventive minds reached far beyond the realm of aviation. From selling bicycles at Wright Cycle Company to printing and publishing local newspapers and church bulletins to designing wind tunnels and combustion engines, it is hard to imagine that Orville and Wilbur had much down time downtime amid all their inventive side projects. In his later years, however, Orville was involved in something far more secretive than bicycles, airplanes, or newspapers. During World War II, Orville quietly worked on a project tied not to flight or newsprint but to secretive wartime communications, an endeavor that remains largely unknown to the public.
Orville Wright (third figure from the left, front row) with other members of the Guggenheim Fund for the Promotion of Aeronautics’ Board, 1928. Photo courtesy of Caltech archives.
After Wilbur’s unexpected death in 1912, Orville gradually stepped back from the Wright Company, selling it and his patents to investors in 1915. Although he remained a public figure in the field of aviation, Orville increasingly stuck to quieter pursuits, returning to the world of research that had first inspired the brothers to develop the Wright Flyers. In the 1920s and the 1930s, Orville was appointed to serve on the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), the precursor to NASA, as well as the Guggenheim Fund for the Promotion of Aeronautics, which championed improvements in aviation safety and education through research funding and public engagement. Despite keeping busy with these organizations, Orville continued to tinker behind-the-scenes with new inventions, creating everything from a trapeze toy called “Flips and Flops” to the split-wing flap for aircraft, which helped improve pilot control during deep dives. It’s within this context that Orville Wright’s lesser-known contributions to wartime cryptography begin to emerge.
When World War II broke out, Orville was still living in Dayton, Ohio, a city that became a hotbed for important, often-times secretive, wartime innovation. One of Dayton’s most important contributions to the war effort was an advanced codebreaking tool for the Allied Forces. Dayton native, Joseph R. Desch, played a pivotal role in creating this tool. As an electrical engineer at the National Cash Register Company (NCR), Desch spearheaded the U.S. Navy’s effort to build a high-speed electromechanical device capable of breaking the German Navy’s Enigma code. His work led to the creation of the American Bombe; a top-secret machine used to decipher encrypted U-boat communications.
Orville Wright’s “Cypher Machine No. 3,” which is currently housed at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia. Photo courtesy of the Franklin Institute.
Although Orville was not part of Desch’s efforts, he was among the many Dayton-area inventors and engineers who was inspired and intrigued by the mechanical challenge of creating a code-making and breaking machine. Spurred by the urgency brought on by the war, Orville’s new focus was to create a machine that could securely encode sensitive communications. While the details of Orville’s development process remain unknown, we do know that he designed at least three cipher devices during World War II. One of these machines still survives today, housed at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia. This machine was labeled “No. 3,” by Orville, providing the evidence that he had built, or at least designed, at least two other versions of his encryption device. This suggests a process of refinement just like how the Wright brothers developed the airplane, by testing, improving, and possibly collaborating with other scientific minds to create the best possible machine.
Orville’s “Cypher Machine No. 3” was finished in 1944. The device, which is about the size of a shoebox, is comprised of metal rotors and labelled disks housed in a wooden outer-shell. Deceptively small and simple at first glance, the device is extremely powerful, with the ability to generate over eleven million unique codes. It features rotating mechanical components designed to transform messages into complex, unreadable codes through a substitution process. Orville’s original instructions for operating the machine remain at the Franklin Institute:
“All disks turn to right, or clockwise, except No. 4 which turns both left and right.
To Code: Turn disk No. 3 to first letter of message.
Turn disk No. 2 and No. 4 same number of spaces. This gives first cypher letter.
Turn disk No. 4 to the left the number of spaces indicated by the smaller red numbers in red on Nos. 5 and 6.
Turn disk No. 5 to right red number on No. 4. Turn disk No. 6 to right red number on No. 3.
Turn disk No. 1 the number of spaces indicated by the smallest of the block number on Nos. 3, 4, 5, 6.
Turn disk No. 2 block number on No. 1.
Turn disk No. 3 to next letter of the message.
Turn disk No. 2 the same number of spaces. (Record second code letter.)”
The cipher machine, photographed by the Franklin Institute staff in 1951, a few years after its completion. Photo courtesy of The Journal of the Franklin Institute, August 1951.
Though specific details about the machine’s official use are scarce, the surviving No. 3 model reflects Orville’s hallmark engineering approach: sturdy, mechanically sound, and built for practical operation. The machine was photographed and published in The Journal of the Franklin Institute in August 1951, where it was described as part of a wartime effort to improve Allied communication security. Orville never publicly promoted the device, which ended up being one of his final inventions, completed just four years before his death in 1948.
Orville Wright’s cipher machine is a reminder that the spirit of innovation doesn’t stop at first success. Even after making a massive breakthrough by achieving practical, human-powered flight, Orville continued to solve problems, tinker with ideas, and contribute to national efforts behind the scenes. His work in cryptography, which was mechanical, methodical, and innovative, embodies the same traits that lifted the Wright Flyer off the ground in 1903 and changed the world forever.
This story underscores Montgomery County’s legacy of home front innovation during the second World War, a legacy that is recognized through its designation by the National Park Service as a World War II Heritage City. From the factory floor to the scientific laboratory, Montgomery County citizens, including Orville Wright, played important roles in supporting the Allied cause. To learn more about Montgomery County’s World War II Heritage City designation, click here: https://www.nps.gov/places/montgomery-ohio.htm.
