It seems that Dixon’s crude rod had damaged the original artifact, from which the relics originated. This blind probing may have caused the items to become damaged and dislodged from higher in the shaft, enabling Dixon to recover them easily. On the video footage of the shaft, taken by Uphaut 2 in 1993, there can be seen the remainder of a long wooden rod from which the 13-centimeter piece had broken. What can also be seen is an object that appears to look like a rectangle of wood or metal, with two corresponding holes to match the rivets on the metal instrument. Unfortunately, Rudolf Gantenbrink was unable to explore the shaft further for technical reasons.
Having collated the information available from the relics found in 1872 and those seen in the shaft in 1993, theoretical reconstruction of the instrument can be achieved.
The items are as follows:
| Recovered collection of parts | Parts recorded but missing | Parts not yet discovered |
 |  |  |
Figure 3
1872 objects:
- Plumb bob
- Fragment of scale rule (now missing but recorded by Piazzi Smyth)
- Bronze or copper fork with fixing rivets attached.
1993 objects:
- A piece of wood with holes that match the rivets on the bronze item.
- A 2-meter plus length of wood resembling a staff with a portion missing.
- Various pieces of unidentified material, located in two areas of the shaft.
- A large rectangular object can be seen at the upper end of the shaft attached to the 2-meter length of wood.
Exploded View of the Instrument
Figure 5
Method of assembling the instrument from the component list.
1. The metal fork appears to be designed to attach to one end of the long staff by a half housed joint held by the two rivets on one side of the hook.
2. The plumb line is looped over the fork, on the top of the staff, by way of a slipknot. The working end returning over the side of the fork opposite to the scale, this allows the line to cut the apex of the joint between the cross arm and the staff precisely.
3. A pouch or net is fixed to the opposite end of the plumb line, to hold the plumb bob.
4. A cross bar is mounted on the fork, at right angles to the staff and fixed with the remaining two rivets at the front of the instrument. (I believe that this is the purpose of the object with two corresponding holes still in the shaft)
5. One end of a measuring rod is fixed at 45o to one arm of the cross bar.
6. The other end of the measuring rod is fixed at 45o to the upright of the staff.
Assembled view of the Instrument
Figure 6
Having completed the initial assembly and understanding the principles of the instrument earlier outlined, it can be established what components are missing to complete the instrument and turn it into a working model, proving the hypothesis.
Measuring Rods
Proof that the Egyptians had sufficient knowledge of decimals and degrees to allow construction of the measuring rod has already been proved and published by Sir William Flanders Petrie when he surveyed the Pyramid of Khufu, where he stated that the Royal Cubit measured 523.95 millimeters or 20.6 inches. It was established that Fourth Dynasty builders divided the cubit into decimals. Sir William also named a unit of measurement used at Giza as a digit, which is constantly accurate to one tenth of a millimeter:
1.75752 cubits = 9180 digits = 918 millimeters = 90 centimeters approximately.
This is sufficiently close enough for centimeters and millimeters to represent degrees and minutes for the purposes of this experiment.
Exponential Scale
Extreme accuracy for the time of three arc minutes would be achieved by the development of an exponential scale. This is achieved by drawing lines from the center point of a circle outward, through the rule. This can be seen in figure 7, kindly provided by Jim Bowles
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