The obvious. The blade is brought to a great height to give it the potential energy to remove each of the heads of the subjects, who are arranged in a stack beneath it. Experiments would be needed to determine what the spacing between the lunettes (the wooden head-holder pieces) would need to be to prevent yet-unprocessed heads from being struck by the falling heads of those already serviced by the blade. As the machine would need to be quite tall, it would make sense to build it in a sturdy fashion - perhaps of brick or stone. The beautiful fixtures could become a frequent sight outside city gates. Imagine, a vast six-story stone serial Guillotine outside of your home-town, capable of sequentially beheading a hundred!
-- dsm, Dec 31 2000

Parallel Guillotine http://www.halfbake...rallel_20Guillotine
A not-wholly-unrelated scheme, rather less efficient in its use of land. Urban and suburban versions, presumably. [Monkfish, Dec 31 2000, last modified Oct 04 2004]

Read this http://tinyurl.com/8b6s
[mrthingy, Oct 04 2004]

maybe go a step further, and do a 3d guillotine array. *splort*
-- absterge, Dec 31 2000


Maybe a serial electric chair would be more logical. Kind of like those two-seater port-o-potties. Only not really. Ok, that's a bad analogy.
-- seizethefish, Jan 03 2001


For a REAL deterrent, put them FACE-UP on the guillotine! Ouch!
-- deacon, May 16 2001


deacon: Attach them to a lathe, and have them slowly spin as the blade descends.
-- pottedstu, Oct 25 2001


not EVERYTHING needs to be rushed and done in bulk - where's your knitting?
-- po, Oct 25 2001


How about if each potential beheadee is in some valve apparatus which retracts and returns to the point of impact at varying rates? And while slowly rotating. Some would be completely beheaded, some partially, some grazed, some would have mullet haircuts, some would be spared. All would be bloody and sweating profusely. I think the theme music should be "Chaos at the Greasy Spoon" by Hatfield And The North set on endless loop.
-- thumbwax, Oct 25 2001


I appologise in advance for being too logical, but the guillotine was created as a humaine way of killing people. The point is that you face down so you don't know when death will occur, and it's fairly foolproof. Before the guillotine executioners would miss or not strike hard enough with an axe, causing a horrible death. In that vein, I think this idea runs counter to the point.
-- Worldgineer, Jun 19 2003


Why not add a turret to switch out prisoners. would only do one at a time but could be quickly unloaded and reloaded why one is being beheaded.
-- WildWest, Aug 02 2005


[wildwest] a kind of Gatling Guillotine?
//The point is that you face down so you don't know when death will occur// I think the "click" - "whoosh" would be a bit of a giveaway.
-- coprocephalous, Aug 02 2005


I think a spinning blade, similar to a deli slicer would be more efficient. The condemned could then be beheaded by moving the blade horizontally across a long, rail-like lunette. The vertically falling blade you envisioned would probably get stuck about halfway down since some necks may be thicker or more dense than others.
-- jaksplat, Aug 02 2005


//I think the "click" - "whoosh" would be a bit of a giveaway.// Wouldn't that be spelled "wh." ?
-- Basepair, Aug 02 2005


//I think a spinning blade, similar to a deli slicer would be more efficient//
Reminds me of a movie, but I can’t remember the title. It’s Rome, a general and a few others who’ve fallen out of favor are buried up to their necks. Along comes a mechanical device with big spinning blades at neck level. A man-mower. Terrified, the general looks to the Emperor. The next moment you see their heads rolling away like marbles.
-- ldischler, Aug 02 2005



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