Today in 1948, US Patent 2448063 A was issued, an invention of Edouard Thys, for his “Machine For Stripping Hops From Vines.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes this summary:

This invention relates to means for mechanically picking hops and has particular reference to the picker fingers and bars for supporting the same, by which the hop blossoms and clusters are mechanically removed from the vines when the latter pass through the machine.