American Agriculture History Minute: Mechanical Corn Shellers Introduced

I’m Mark Oppold with an American Agriculture History Minute.

Corn has always been an important part of American agriculture history, but shelling it – usually by hand – was a difficult one for families, and the process normally was a community affair, family and friends gathering together for a shelling bee.

Mechanical corn shellers were introduced in the 1800s as the means to simplify this process. Early versions ranged from handheld to larger and more elaborate units. Wheel-type shellers were introduced shortly after in 1815, and with these, the operator would turn a hand crank and drop kernels into a container that was placed below. 

That’s today’s American Agriculture History Minute. I’m Mark Oppold. Thanks for reading. I’ll see you next time.