A Corn Detasseling Machine for the War Effort

From the August 9, 2017, MidWeek (DeKalb County, Illinois)  "Looking Back."

1942, 75 Years Ago.

"A corn detasseling machine was delivered this week to Kenneth Furr of Genoa from the shop of Fritz Loptien of Sycamore.  The device makes it possible for four operators to detassel eight rows of corn at one trip across the field.

"The machine moves less than two miles an hour under the power of a Ford engine, which is part of the machine.  The efficiency of the device is indicated by the fact that four detasselers and one driver were said to have accomplished in 80 minutes as much as 23 men working four hours from the ground."

It was a manpower thing.

Just the Thing With All  the Many Men Away in the Military.  --GreGen