Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

THE DUTCH INVENTION OF THE ROTOR MACHINE, 1915–1923

2003; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 27; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/0161-110391891775

1558-1586

Karl de Leeuw,

History and Developments in Astronomy

The rotor machine was invented in 1915 by two Dutch navy officers, R. P. C. Spengler and Th. van Hengel, who were working at the Navy Department in the Dutch East Indies. A prototype was built by W. K. Maurits, a mechanical engineer, and tested during the summer of that year on board the flagship of the Dutch Navy in the East Indies on order of the fleet commander Rear Admiral F. Bauduin. Though the Dutch Navy decided not to adopt the device for it prevented the invention from being patented by the original inventors. The Navy could not prevent the rotor machine from being patented, however, by Hugo Alexander Koch—an engineer and businessman working in close collaboration with Arthur Scherbius in Germany—who probably became familiar with the idea through his brother-in-law, Huybrecht Verhagen, a patent attorney working at the firm that had supported the abortive patent application by the original inventors.