I was watching the two Columbo's on tv this week on the Halmark channel and on the Biography channel. In Now You See Him, he talks to the owner at a Magician shop, and he shows him a minature guillotine. He also runs into the magic device, in Columbo goes to the guillotine. I would think though that Columbo would would hae recognized that type of device from before, but I guess maybe if it was years apart he would have forgot.

Could this have been a scene designed for the audience? Maybe the writers thought not everyone viewing would know what one looked like, how it operated, etc.