Original design of the Lunar Cylinder and its gearing

Determine whether the original design of the Antikythera Mechanism’s Lunar Cylinder and its gearing differed from present-day reconstruction hypotheses, including characterization of its lost base and the configuration implied by the horseshoe-shaped spacer imprint.

Background

The Lunar Cylinder’s base is missing, and a horseshoe-shaped imprint inside the Lunar Cylinder suggests a spacer between the cap and the lost base. These traces raise doubts about the exact original arrangement of the Lunar Phases sphere gearing.

The authors explicitly pose a question about whether the original design diverged from current reconstructions and emphasize that the absence of definitive evidence leaves this unresolved.

References

As the base of the Lunar Cylinder is not preserved, a new question arises: Could the original design of the Lunar Cylinder and its gearing be different than present day hypotheses? The lack of answers leaves these two questions open today...

— Is there something missing from the Antikythera Mechanism? Was it a mechanical Planetarium, positioner? or a Luni solar Time calculator device? Reconstructing the lost parts of b1 gear and its Cover Disc  (2407.15858 - Voulgaris et al., 2024) in Section 3. Present day missing parts of the Antikythera Mechanism; Figure 2 context