This approach toward containing and levitating a rod or shaped piece of graphite was first found and successful around late January 2001 by David Lamb. The principle advantage of this is that the rod is strongly limited to its motion along the linear axis of the containment. This approach is most closely related to the Arthur D. Little tiltmeters of the 1960's and 1970's, except there, they used two main poles very close to the rod, or with a series of magnets close together on two sides and their junctions to levitate the graphite rod design they used. The copper colored piece on the rod is for damping over the center junctions of the magnets as shown. Note that the single copper foil is situated over the center junction of the magnets, this creates the maximum eddy current area for effective damping.
Aluminum foil is lighter in weight and is quite effective also.
Currently we use aluminum foil that has manufacturer sticky glue surface on one side for application, and it holds very well over time, and is effective for eddy current damping and is lighter weight. The separation is for the access to a side area for possible center sensing of the movement of the rod. In this view and subsequent views, the spectroscopic grade graphite rods were sanded down, and had two 90 degree angles on the bottom, while the top maintained a rounded contour. The photo above is simply a added view of the photo above, with some improved views of parts of the assembly. The graphite was purchased from a local area electronics surplus store, but its a rare item anywhere.