I thought I was adding to the fun by spinning **** about the way it worked. I was curious to see how far I would be pushed for explanations and how far I could take it. (Not usually one to blow my own trumpet, but the explanations so far almost had me believing them myself!)
Unfortunately the poor resolution on modern stone age video technology makes it difficult to properly ascertain exactly how some of the systems worked...
It's a shame that some of these engineering techniques have been lost with the passage of time. Here's a fairly poor recent attempt to replicate this marvellous conveyance:
