What is this? Antique tractor attachment or ??

[dieselcrawler]

I'll bet them contraptions removed many hands, fingers,arms and a few sets of balls when they were in common use.

My father in law has a gimped-up finger from a corn picker... In 1986, he was trying to clear a clog, machine still running, got his hand pulled in. They reconstructed his finger with bone from his hip...

 

[CobyRupert]

Awesome video, thanks.
Do you know if the corn binder was a generally used technique to harvest corn or was it only for making ornamental sheaves of corn for resale?

Was this the best method at the time for the small farmer to get the corn out of the field and into a barn where it could be further processed?

I wasn't there, but I believe the corn stalks were cut and bundled in the field by this horse drawn ("ground driven") binder. The bundles where then taken to a stationary gas (or steam, etc..?) belt driven corn chopper (/ blower) where they were "chopped" into "silage" and probably placed into a wooden silo.
Eventually the stationary "chopper" evolved into just a blower for later and taller silos, and the "chopping" took place in the field when horses where replaced by tractors with PTO's.

 

[ruffdog]

Even before that, bundles were combined into larger bundles standing vertical (shocking) so they could dry. Then, in winter, they would pick the corn off the stalks.

The shocking way to dry corn | Northwest Indiana History | nwitimes.com