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My uncle’s amazing corn shelling machine
February 11, 2019, 04:46 PM
Pipe SmokerMy uncle’s amazing corn shelling machine
My uncle Clay had an amazing machine in his barn – it shelled field corn. Manually driven by a hand crank, my uncle would drop in an ear of dried field corn. Immediately, a stream of kernels would emerge from a chute and drop into a bucket below the chute. When virtually all of the kernels had been stripped, the stripped cob would emerge from another chute, and drop into another bucket.
I was little kid when I last saw it, but here’s what I remember of it. There were two counter-rotating circular disks of steel or cast iron, on a common axis, each 2 or 3 feet in diameter, slightly conical. The apexes of the cones were, at most, an inch apart. The facing surfaces had many short protrusions to knock off the kernels.
Most of the mechanism was covered by sheet steel and castings, so I don’t know what else was in there. Whatever it was, I’m awed that it could retain the ear until nearly all of the kernels were stripped, then send the cob out a separate chute. An antique, but wonderful, machine.
Serious about crackers February 11, 2019, 04:53 PM
jaaron11Was it something like this?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdhxD5cKnc4
J
Rak Chazak Amats February 11, 2019, 05:04 PM
Pipe Smokerquote:
Originally posted by jaaron11:
Was it something like this?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdhxD5cKnc4
Basically similar, except my uncle’s was all steel and iron. Thanks for that video!
Serious about crackers February 11, 2019, 05:07 PM
SigJacketquote:
Originally posted by jaaron11:
Was it something like this?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdhxD5cKnc4
I’m familiar with a smaller version of that. Clamped to a trough. It’s fascinating for the first 45 minutes. Then my arms were tired.
They can be quite pricy in the antique stores.
For homemade engineering, I was very taken with Granddads butter bean sheller. Mostly because I hated shelling the damn things. It was, alas, too rough with the product for Grandmas taste, so back to wash basins of butter beans and watching The Guiding Light in the hot afternoons.
I still hate butter beans.
February 11, 2019, 05:57 PM
flashguyI was always fascinated by my grandfather's cream separator. That thing could really spin!
flashguy
Texan by choice, not accident of birth February 11, 2019, 06:06 PM
germandogsGrew up on small farm and my Dad had a corn mill where we ground both grits and corn bread. We had a sheller with a gas engine which my Dad would not let any of us touch until we were 12 or so to keep us from filleting our hands.
I was driving a tractor at 10 but could not use the sheller. When he was gone for any length of time he took the spark plug out.
That thing could do bushels of corn before you blinked your eyes. Shelled corn came off directly on conveyor belt to go to the grinder. There was metal divider on the conveyor you used to send to right stones.
It was fascinating.
Whoever said you can't buy happiness forgot little puppies.
Gene Hill
February 11, 2019, 06:15 PM
C-DubsMy great-uncle used one like this at his dairy farm.
Antique corn sheller
“I won't be wronged. I won't be insulted. I won't be laid a-hand on. I don't do these things to other people, and I require the same from them.” February 11, 2019, 06:17 PM
OzarkwoodsHow about this one?
International corn sheller
ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ
February 12, 2019, 06:57 AM
9mmnutGramdpa had one.
February 12, 2019, 07:12 AM
chongosuerteYep. I wore out my arms on one too.
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Although sometimes distracting, there is often a certain entertainment value to this easy standard.
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February 12, 2019, 08:16 AM
BillyBonesNYUsed one on the farm, amazingly fun though, like any other farm task becomes drudgery.
We'd then take the corn and run trough an old supermarket coffee mill on the coarsest setting to make cracked corn for our chicken feed.
Ours was all cast iron, after a while, when the handle cracked the local welder. He's was an elderly German fellow who left Germany when Hitler came to power, such an interesting man, stories of Weimar Germany were fascinating... I digress.
Billy
February 12, 2019, 08:19 AM
BillyBonesNYquote:
Originally posted by BillyBonesNY:
Used one on the farm, amazingly fun though, like any other farm task becomes drudgery.
We'd then take the corn and run trough an old supermarket coffee mill on the coarsest setting to make cracked corn for our chicken feed.
Ours was all cast iron, after a while, when the handle cracked the local welder. He's was an elderly German fellow who left Germany when Hitler came to power, such an interesting man, stories of Weimar Germany were fascinating... I digress.
I always wanted to hook it up to an electric motor.
It would have been much more fun.
Billy
February 12, 2019, 08:37 AM
maxwayneMy grandad had one and used it to prepare feed for the cows and chickens.
February 12, 2019, 09:00 AM
Sunset_VaWe had one on our farm,kept it in the building called the corn crib. Shelled thousands of ears of corn in my youth .
I don't know what happened to it, as after I left home, the building was torn down.
I wish I had it now.
美しい犬
February 12, 2019, 09:10 AM
walkinghorseWhile living in Iowa many of the Amish farms around us still used thisctype of corn sheller. Some were bigger and it was a dusty operation.
Jim
February 12, 2019, 09:48 AM
FN in MTUsed one as a kid on the farm in NJ. I wouldn't want to stick my arm in there while it was turning!
I could easily shell a 5 gal bucket of corn in 3-4 minutes.
February 12, 2019, 09:57 AM
doublesharpYears ago I was at a Fl panhandle flea mkt and there was a farm market selling pecans. The background noise was a rhythmic thump, thump, thump. It was a belt driven contraption that cracked the pecans and then the cracked pecans were put in a lunch bag sized brown paper bag for retail. Sold like hotcakes and that machine was the key.
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February 12, 2019, 10:11 AM
rsboloquote:
Originally posted by SigJacket:
quote:
Originally posted by jaaron11:
Was it something like this?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdhxD5cKnc4
I’m familiar with a smaller version of that. Clamped to a trough. It’s fascinating for the first 45 minutes. Then my arms were tired.
They can be quite pricy in the antique stores.
For homemade engineering, I was very taken with Granddads butter bean sheller. Mostly because I hated shelling the damn things. It was, alas, too rough with the product for Grandmas taste, so back to wash basins of butter beans and watching The Guiding Light in the hot afternoons.
I still hate butter beans.
Holy cats! I did the same thing with my grandmother except it was Days of our Lives. She referred to the Soap Operas as "her shows".
Thanks for the memory.
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