Today in 1953, US Patent 2645893 A was issued, an invention of Emil Clemens Horst Jr., for his “Hop Picking Machine.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes this summary:

It is therefore an object of my invention to provide a hop picking machine especially designed as a portable unit and especially useful in accommodating variations in the positioning and size of the growing hop vines and also designed with a wide degree of latitude for accommodating variations in the operation of the machine itself.

Another object of the invention is to provide a generally improved hop picking machine.

A further object of the invention is to provide a hop picking machine of the field harvesting type in which substantially all of the hops stripped from the vines are retained in the machine and are not lost upon the ground.