this is the guillotine of the lucerne museum in switzerland. the question is: does anyone know what metal bits are for?

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It looks like a set of devices to hold the lunette in place, it is the only one I have ever seen, and might just be a Swiss improvement.

 

I'd guess they are meant to keep the head in place

 

So the Swiss aren't just good for Swiss cheese then. Army knives, and apparently improved guillotines.

I am curious, is that the French or German part of Switzerland? I know Switzerland is one of at least three countries that speak both French and German.

 

https://de.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guillotine_von_Luzern

I found information about the guillotine. the metal pieces serve to keep the head pressed down during the beheading. in this way the head is cut perfectly. to increase this effect, as you can see from the image, the blade passes behind the metal mechanism and the lower part of the lunette has a slot in which the blade passes. it was built autonomously by the Swiss based on the French model.

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This system prevents the condemned from entering the head in his/her shoulders at the moment when the blade falls. On the French guillotine which does not have this mechanism, it was common to see the blade shaving too close the base of the skull and hitting the skull or the back of the jaw, which at best causes horrible and unnecessary mutilations, or sometimes prevents the blade from cutting the neck completely (Abig butcher knife was hidden on one of the side of the basket to cut the rest of skin and flesh when the head wasn't competely separated). In France, one of the executioner's assistants was nicknamed "the Photographer", his task was to pull the condemned by the ears when the blade fell, in order to offer a perfectly clear target. It was not without risks! ^^

(The belgium guillotine had a similar system. The blade fell between the lunette and a thin metal plate with a semi-circular lunette against which the condemned's jaw came to rest. So, the neck was stretched, he couldn't get his head in his shoulders).

H.

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