Minneapolis Moline Corn Picking

This corn picking video replicates corn-belt harvesting in the 1940s and '50s. This was pretty much state-of-the-art for the times. The picker is a 2-row pull type Minneapolis-Moline model RH, made in 1951. When it was made, 60bu corn was considered pretty good. Farmers wanted husk-free corn to store in their corn cribs. So, it has a 12 roll husking bed. Cobs come out quite clean, but it shells quite a bit of corn at the long snapping rolls and again at the husking bed. You will notice partially shelled cobs in the wagon, even though the picker is adjusted properly. Another issue is the nature of the hybrid corn that is now grown. The cobs of today are bred for combining: small diameter ears and are easy shelling. In the 50's the cobs were larger around and longer. Everything on the picker runs slower then ones made in the 60s and 70s. By the early 60s, MM was out of the picker business and was re-badging Oliver pickers. Not long after, MM itself ceased to exist; a victim of changing times, technology and economics.
The Hulbert kids are "helping" gran'pa Jer level the wagon as the slow running picker dumps the corn in one place. The barge-box wagon, gear and hydraulic hoist were sold as a package by Montgomery-Ward and Company; probably manufactured by the Electric-Wheel Company of Quincy, IL. The original owner most likely bought it from a Montgomery-Ward farm catalog.
The video was made at the Hulbert family farm near Waterford, WI,
A big thanks to Jason Hulbert for taking the video and supplying the grand-kids: Danica, Lucy, Sydney, Jax and their friend, Nevie.