A new device to cleave wild beasts from Head to Tail
1769
Imagine a Rube Goldberg machine from the 18th century designed for maximum drama! In this 1769 illustration by Filippo Morghen, a man operates an elaborate pulley system tied to a gnarled tree to hoist a massive, L-shaped blade. The trap is set on a wooden bridge over a stream, baited with fruit to lure an unsuspecting anteater-like creature. Once the beast steps onto the platform to grab a snack, the mechanism presumably releases the giant cleaver to slice it right down the middle—a brutally efficient, if slightly absurd, solution to hunting wild beasts.