Guillotines chop heads. If you look at the guillotine blade, it is angled, with one side of the blade much higher than the other end. I would think the guillotine blade would be shaped more rectangular.
In: Engineering
I’m not a historian, and you might want to ask this question at r/askahistorian, but I some blades were flat at the bottom, and if I’m not mistaken some were triangular, so the point was in the middle. The engineers that design this sort of thing figured out pretty quick that the angled blade works best. Take for example a great loaf of bread if you took a sharp flat blade and brought it down on the bread would it cut? Yeah, maybe but there is going to be a whole lot of smooshing going on too… not good… the point in the center blade would direct the force out to both sides of the retaining block which holds the head in place, allowing it to slice but also smoosh, there are stories about the blade not going all the thru and the executioner having to jump on top of the blade to get it thru… ( I think I heard that on hardcore history)
The angled blade was perfect, as it dropped it pushed the neck to one side of the retaining block and allowed the blade to cut smaller amount and still get the job done…. I think I’m close, others much smarter and more awake than I would probably have greater insight …
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