At the suggestion of a client, I went to work trying to make a durable release mechanism for a double door trap.

This client demanded a machine that could execute Nazi facsimiles for hours at a time. This ruled out anything made from wood.

Internet searches delivered little in information, but much need for a solution. I believe this may be it.

This machine required a steel lever, four steel linkwheels, and four steel inkages. All were riveted together cold iron style, and the movement is smooth.

This design can be altered to drop the whole floor, two seperate single doors, or the clamshell you see here.

Click the image to see the complete sequence that made the floor you see here.

Small single door gallows

To see larger images, and more of them, click here.

Working and marginally accurate old western era gallows.

This model occupies a space roughly 1 cubic foot in overall dimension. All jointery is by treenails, luck and patience. Materials used are douglas fir, maple, and nylon. The floor planking and stairs are tounge depressor stock, and all floors are framed and joisted to scale.

The release mechanism is pure serendipity, and is composed of a series of guides, a sliding release blade and a lever assembly, as seen in the clickable image, which sits at the top of the kill-floor.

This model is a stone pain in the ass to produce and so it will cost about $400.00 to get me to make another. Of course it comes with a rough carved victim which you can complete yourself to look like anyone you wish.