I've been doing some research on early corn pickers and ran across this forum. What I have read here so far has been very helpful, and I was hoping to get a little more information. I am not a farmer, though my grandparents were, and never lived on a working farm, so I am very much a novice!
In the early 1900s, my great-grandfather lost his hand to one of the very early model corn pickers, and I've been trying to find a little more information for a family history project. I know that it was pulled by horses (they got their first Case tractor in the 1950s, I think), and probably not a husking type. Can anyone provide a description of how these machines worked or maybe a picture of one? It is difficult to find much information for models dating prior to the 1950's.
Any information you could provide would be very helpful! Thanks!
Prior to the 1950s would be a hard to find out what brand or model of picker it was as there were so many. Unfortunately many farmers lost fingers, hands, arms and more in pickers. There is even a possibly that it wasnt a picker at all. Before corn pickers were common most farmers had corn shredders. These were the basis of a threshing machine where the farmer would shock the corn in the field then bring it to the machine once it was dry. One person would feed the shocks into the shredder. This could have been a very dangerous job. The shredder consisted of several rolls that the operator would feed the shocks into. Being so close you had to keep your hands a safe distance from the rolls and not hold on to the corn and let it through. There is no way such a machine would even be allowed to be built today due to safety constraints.
