See a related discussion on The Crypto Forum (http://
s13.zetaboards.com/Crypto/topic/6617726/1/).
Dr. Smithline had to determine the key two-digit numbers, but
Patterson's cipher system was public knowledge. Not to lessen the
achievement, this is certainly a simpler task than tackling, say,
Kryptos or Chaocipher (http://www.mountainvistasoft.com/chaocipher).
The previous link to The Crypto Forum is: