Today in 1944, US Patent 2356545 A was issued, an invention of Vladislav Sykora, for his “Method and Apparatus for Cropping Hops.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes this summary:

The present invention consists in a mechanical shearing of the hop and offers, in addition to a high yield, the further advantage that the very important short stalk pieces as above mentioned, are left undamaged on the strobiles. The method and the devices required therefor, being the subject-matter of the present invention, will be described hereinafter. The hop parts shorn apart may, as will also be disclosed, be separated from each other in a clean manner by known means and may then easily be treated for further use.