Thoughts on the Zodiac 340 in light of typography
Posted: Tue Dec 06, 2016 6:22 pmRecently I have been reading up on the subject of typography and, typesetting, as it relates to typography. Through the course of this reading I came across a mention of "minding your P's and Q's".
In the early days of composition for printing, individual letters or symbols, called sorts, were cast from lead and kept in a box according to their font style, size, weight and whether they were upper or lower case.
It is particularly important that, when finished with composition, each sort is returned to the appropriate slot for storing. If they are not stored in the appropriate location, when starting a new composition, you may find that you have pulled a "b" when you needed a "p" or a "q" when you needed a "d"; they all have the same shape and only take form given its position. Letters that carry the same shape are: b/d/p/q, n/u and m/w.
When I think of the above I am reminded of two things:
1. 11/9/1969 letter, page 3, regarding the Zodiac's confusion over the words "barking" and "parking".
2. The backward capital letters of the Zodiac 340 cipher.
Point 1 above, I feel, needs no further explanation as it's point is raised in the paragraph above it. With regards to, point 2, I offer the following:
The alphabetic symbols of the 340 are in capital letters. If you reduce the symbols to the lowercase form, the vast majority of the symbols remain unchanged except for, the backwards letters. When changed to lowercase form, a backwards "B" becomes a lowercase "d", a backwards "Q" becomes a lowercase "p" and a backwards "D" becomes a lowercase "b". The importance of minding your P's and Q's.
This changing of letter form from one to another affects the frequency count for each symbol. A "B" symbol for example, which has a count of 12, would now have a count of 17 by adding in the backwards D (b).
Prior to this writing I had merged symbols according to what I have been describing above and reduced them to two columns of 24 symbols; letters and symbols. My initial thought at the time was that maybe this cipher was a bilateral Baconian cipher given the two columns, the count of 24 and it's use within steganography. As I read more into typography I moved away from this thought.
Before I go on I would like to add that there are two types of frequency tables; one that we read about all the time and another dealing with the printing industry. I have listed both below with differences between the two marked:
Letter frequency table:
ETAOINS(RH)DLUCMF(YWGPBVKXQJZ)
Printing industry frequency:
ETAOINS(HR)DLUCMF(WYPVBGKQJXZ)
The list above will fall into play later.
Typography began as a manual process for printing the written word in newspapers but also for books. Casts were made of individual letters in lead, placed in molds to form words and then, sent off to be printed. How these casts were placed in the mold depended upon which field you were working in; newspapers or books. Newspapers I believe played their type from right to left and top to bottom. Books were upside down, left to right and bottom to top.
From there things went to the mechanical: Linotype and Monotype machines. Linotype, which was the least expensive of the two, was predominantly used by newspapers and Monotype was predominantly used by book makers.
Both the Linotype and Monotype used a keyboard for typing text and both made casts of the letters typed for printing. Where they differed was in the number of alphabets used and the casting process.
The Linotype had 1 keyboard with 3 columns: lowercase, symbols, uppercase; 2 full alphabets. The Monotype had 2 keyboards and began with 5 alphabets but ended with 7. Jyst as the Linotype, the Monotype, had lowercase, symbols and uppercase. One of the alphabets, in both cases of the monotype alphabet, were for justification of text.
The Linotype had 91 columns that held both alphabets and symbols. Two of the 91 were for the letter E given its high frequency. As the operator types, each letter falls from its slot to a carriage. When all letters of a line are typed the whole line is positioned in a chamber that fills with lead to produce a cast of the whole line typed, hence, Linotype.
The Monotype is a bit different in the casting process. I can't fully describe it as I'm still reading on the subject but can give you the gist. Instead of having slots for the alphabet, the monotype, has a casting plate. This casting plate, empty, looks and functions, similar to a chess board. You have all these connected sections that run off of columns and rows. Monotypes began with a 15 x 15 matrix that would hold 225 characters, moved later to a 16 x 17 that would hold 272 characters and then later (1967), a 17 x 20 matrix that would hold 340 characters.
These casting plates had both alphabets, symbols for printed text and symbols for justification (which was only read by the machine). There were standard plates but an operator could make their own casts or order them through the company. When filled, caster plates look like what the 340 looks like. All these symbols will fill, in various order, every block within those columns and rows.
When the operator types the text to be printed, instead of casts of letters falling from a slot like the Linotype, a roll of paper is punched. This punched paper looks like the roll of paper in pianos that play on their own. You would think that the punches in the paper indicate characters but they don't. Like a chessboard they indicate positions, column to row, on the casting plate. Unless I'm confusing one cipher for another, this reading of columns and rows, is like a playfair or a vigenere.
After the operator has typed the desired text, the paper with punches is removed and, fed to the casting machine via the last item punched. The reason for this is because, at the end of every line typed, there is justification code that tells the caster how to space each word and how to end a sentence. Putting the punches in backwards basically sets the machine for casting.
I'm still digging into the Monotype so I can't give a full list of the codes used and I'm not entirely comfortable in some of my future mentions of code. However I do hope that, even if I were slightly wrong in code description, you will still see the point I will try to make with regards to how I'm thinking the Zodiac 340 cipher was set up.
I'm not really sure if the keyboard operator types this or if the casting operator does this just prior to inserting the punched paper but an H is typed. This H tests the machine for type. Then the paper is run beginning with the last item punched.
So in looking at the 340, as is, the H in the first column from top is that testing of the machine for type. The reading of the cipher is then read from the bottom up and read backwards. I say this because when the punched paper is inserted it is inserted by the last item typed first.
There are codes that the machine reads that pertain to justification. A backwards k is used at an end of a line. From what I'm understanding it could mean an end of a sentence or sending a signal to the machine that there is still unused space on this line; make the justification. An empty square is in similar fashion. There is a code for a vertical bar similar to what looks like a lowercase L in the cipher. Double letters or symbols act in a fashion similar to an em.
I'm stopping here because I don't have a full list of the codes and how they operate. I suppose that the point I'm trying to make here is that the justification codes in monotype (like what I'm describing above), should be looked upon in the 340 as nulls and that the information between them, should be read from the bottom up after frequency and substitution.
Soze
In the early days of composition for printing, individual letters or symbols, called sorts, were cast from lead and kept in a box according to their font style, size, weight and whether they were upper or lower case.
It is particularly important that, when finished with composition, each sort is returned to the appropriate slot for storing. If they are not stored in the appropriate location, when starting a new composition, you may find that you have pulled a "b" when you needed a "p" or a "q" when you needed a "d"; they all have the same shape and only take form given its position. Letters that carry the same shape are: b/d/p/q, n/u and m/w.
When I think of the above I am reminded of two things:
1. 11/9/1969 letter, page 3, regarding the Zodiac's confusion over the words "barking" and "parking".
2. The backward capital letters of the Zodiac 340 cipher.
Point 1 above, I feel, needs no further explanation as it's point is raised in the paragraph above it. With regards to, point 2, I offer the following:
The alphabetic symbols of the 340 are in capital letters. If you reduce the symbols to the lowercase form, the vast majority of the symbols remain unchanged except for, the backwards letters. When changed to lowercase form, a backwards "B" becomes a lowercase "d", a backwards "Q" becomes a lowercase "p" and a backwards "D" becomes a lowercase "b". The importance of minding your P's and Q's.
This changing of letter form from one to another affects the frequency count for each symbol. A "B" symbol for example, which has a count of 12, would now have a count of 17 by adding in the backwards D (b).
Prior to this writing I had merged symbols according to what I have been describing above and reduced them to two columns of 24 symbols; letters and symbols. My initial thought at the time was that maybe this cipher was a bilateral Baconian cipher given the two columns, the count of 24 and it's use within steganography. As I read more into typography I moved away from this thought.
Before I go on I would like to add that there are two types of frequency tables; one that we read about all the time and another dealing with the printing industry. I have listed both below with differences between the two marked:
Letter frequency table:
ETAOINS(RH)DLUCMF(YWGPBVKXQJZ)
Printing industry frequency:
ETAOINS(HR)DLUCMF(WYPVBGKQJXZ)
The list above will fall into play later.
Typography began as a manual process for printing the written word in newspapers but also for books. Casts were made of individual letters in lead, placed in molds to form words and then, sent off to be printed. How these casts were placed in the mold depended upon which field you were working in; newspapers or books. Newspapers I believe played their type from right to left and top to bottom. Books were upside down, left to right and bottom to top.
From there things went to the mechanical: Linotype and Monotype machines. Linotype, which was the least expensive of the two, was predominantly used by newspapers and Monotype was predominantly used by book makers.
Both the Linotype and Monotype used a keyboard for typing text and both made casts of the letters typed for printing. Where they differed was in the number of alphabets used and the casting process.
The Linotype had 1 keyboard with 3 columns: lowercase, symbols, uppercase; 2 full alphabets. The Monotype had 2 keyboards and began with 5 alphabets but ended with 7. Jyst as the Linotype, the Monotype, had lowercase, symbols and uppercase. One of the alphabets, in both cases of the monotype alphabet, were for justification of text.
The Linotype had 91 columns that held both alphabets and symbols. Two of the 91 were for the letter E given its high frequency. As the operator types, each letter falls from its slot to a carriage. When all letters of a line are typed the whole line is positioned in a chamber that fills with lead to produce a cast of the whole line typed, hence, Linotype.
The Monotype is a bit different in the casting process. I can't fully describe it as I'm still reading on the subject but can give you the gist. Instead of having slots for the alphabet, the monotype, has a casting plate. This casting plate, empty, looks and functions, similar to a chess board. You have all these connected sections that run off of columns and rows. Monotypes began with a 15 x 15 matrix that would hold 225 characters, moved later to a 16 x 17 that would hold 272 characters and then later (1967), a 17 x 20 matrix that would hold 340 characters.
These casting plates had both alphabets, symbols for printed text and symbols for justification (which was only read by the machine). There were standard plates but an operator could make their own casts or order them through the company. When filled, caster plates look like what the 340 looks like. All these symbols will fill, in various order, every block within those columns and rows.
When the operator types the text to be printed, instead of casts of letters falling from a slot like the Linotype, a roll of paper is punched. This punched paper looks like the roll of paper in pianos that play on their own. You would think that the punches in the paper indicate characters but they don't. Like a chessboard they indicate positions, column to row, on the casting plate. Unless I'm confusing one cipher for another, this reading of columns and rows, is like a playfair or a vigenere.
After the operator has typed the desired text, the paper with punches is removed and, fed to the casting machine via the last item punched. The reason for this is because, at the end of every line typed, there is justification code that tells the caster how to space each word and how to end a sentence. Putting the punches in backwards basically sets the machine for casting.
I'm still digging into the Monotype so I can't give a full list of the codes used and I'm not entirely comfortable in some of my future mentions of code. However I do hope that, even if I were slightly wrong in code description, you will still see the point I will try to make with regards to how I'm thinking the Zodiac 340 cipher was set up.
I'm not really sure if the keyboard operator types this or if the casting operator does this just prior to inserting the punched paper but an H is typed. This H tests the machine for type. Then the paper is run beginning with the last item punched.
So in looking at the 340, as is, the H in the first column from top is that testing of the machine for type. The reading of the cipher is then read from the bottom up and read backwards. I say this because when the punched paper is inserted it is inserted by the last item typed first.
There are codes that the machine reads that pertain to justification. A backwards k is used at an end of a line. From what I'm understanding it could mean an end of a sentence or sending a signal to the machine that there is still unused space on this line; make the justification. An empty square is in similar fashion. There is a code for a vertical bar similar to what looks like a lowercase L in the cipher. Double letters or symbols act in a fashion similar to an em.
I'm stopping here because I don't have a full list of the codes and how they operate. I suppose that the point I'm trying to make here is that the justification codes in monotype (like what I'm describing above), should be looked upon in the 340 as nulls and that the information between them, should be read from the bottom up after frequency and substitution.
Soze