Corn Shuckers, Corn Cutters, and Corn Shellers

There are many names for the device that is used to get the corn off of the cob. The picker wheel and disk type of corn sheller was invented around 1815, howerver, the corn sheller didn't become popular until the late 1800s and was "perfected" towards 1870. In one hour the owner of a corn sheller could shell 10 to 12 bushels of corn.

Being able to shell that much corn that quickly was a blessing to many farmers and poultry owners. There was still a bit of work to be done with the original corn shellers, as they dropped the cob in with the shelled corn so the person shelling corn would have to remove the cobs, but this was still preferable to cutting the corn off of each corn cob by hand. By the 1840s though, they were able to create a corn sheller that dispelled the cobs and kept them separate from the corn kernels.

For family gardens that didn't have as much corn, a hand held corn cutter was still preferable as it was more inexpensive than the corn shellers.