Abstract: A corn kernel cutter of known design has a rotating head upon which cutting knives are pivoted and which mounts a shiftable ring that makes a pin and slot connection with the knives so that they open and close simultaneously. The knives are formed with counterweights which urge their cutting edges inwardly during normal operation. The corn cutter has conventional opposed sets of feed rollers which receive the ears smaller end first from a cutter feeder conveyor. A sensor switch is actuated by opening of the entry feed rollers by an ear and is connected to a control circuit including time delay relays. When the entrance of an ear is first sensed by the feed rollers, a reverse time delay relay is energized and if the corn is cut and clears the sensor feed rollers in normal fashion, the reverse time delay relay has no effect.