Charles Sherwood Noble
Encyclopedia
Charles Sherwood Noble invented a minimum disturbance cultivator
called the Noble blade. The Noble blade (or Noble plow) cuts weed roots beneath the soil surface without turning the soil over, thus reducing topsoil loss due to wind erosion. The village of Nobleford, Alberta
is named after him.
in 1873, the eldest of six boys. His mother died when he was very young and Noble left school when he was age 15 to assist his father in supporting the family. In 1896 Noble took out a 160 acre (0.6474976 km²) homestead near Knox, North Dakota
.
In 1902 Noble moved to the Claresholm, Alberta
area in what was then part of the Northwest Territories. The next year, he married Margaret Naomi Fraser. In the following years Noble purchased large tracts of land southeast of Claresholm. He constructed many of the area’s first buildings and the hamlet of Noble (later renamed Nobleford) was established in 1909.
By 1922 Noble had accumulated about 30000 acres (121.4 km²) of land but a series of poor crops, falling prices and too much debt meant he was unable to keep up the payments on the land. In the autumn of that year the Spokane Trust Company to whom he owed $600,000 foreclosed on the Noble estate and he lost all his holdings.
By 1930 he had regained some of his holdings and was farming approximately 8000 acres (32.4 km²) of land.
, farmland within the dry-belt, cultivated with mole-board plow and/or double disc and summer fallow
ed every other year, was subject to massive soil erosion. In 1935, while on a visit to California, Noble observed a sugar beet farmer using a straight blade tool to cut into the subsoil beneath the beets to loosen them for harvesting. He noticed that the blade was disturbing and killing weeds without burying them. Noble realized if he could apply a similar implement to the dry land back in Alberta thus leaving the crop stubble as "trash" on top to hold the soil and protect it from blowing the problem of soil erosion may be solved. He immediately fabricated a tillage implement patterned after the sugar beet harvesting tool. He called his invention the Noble blade. The next year he carried out all his summer fallow work using his invention. The results were so successful by 1937 he had fabricated 50 of the implements which he sold to friends and neighbors. By 1941 a factory was built within the village of Nobleford. Sales of the Noble blade occurred throughout the dry land farming areas of the world. The Noble blade is touted as one of the most important agricultural inventions of the 20th century. In 1982 the company that Noble had founded was sold to Versatile Manufacturing Ltd.
Today, variations of the Noble blade, produced by all the major farm equipment manufacturers, have supplanted the mold board plow as the main tillage implement in use.
Cultivator
A cultivator is any of several types of farm implement used for secondary tillage. One sense of the name refers to frames with teeth that pierce the soil as they are dragged through it linearly. Another sense refers to machines that use rotary motion of disks or teeth to accomplish a similar result...
called the Noble blade. The Noble blade (or Noble plow) cuts weed roots beneath the soil surface without turning the soil over, thus reducing topsoil loss due to wind erosion. The village of Nobleford, Alberta
Nobleford, Alberta
Nobleford is a village in southern Alberta, Canada and serves primarily as bedroom community of Lethbridge. It is located 32 km north of the city of Lethbridge.- History :...
is named after him.
Early life
Charles was born in State Center, IowaState Center, Iowa
State Center is a city in Marshall County, Iowa, United States. The population was 1,349 at the 2000 census. State Center is the Rose Capital of Iowa.-Geography:State Center is located at ....
in 1873, the eldest of six boys. His mother died when he was very young and Noble left school when he was age 15 to assist his father in supporting the family. In 1896 Noble took out a 160 acre (0.6474976 km²) homestead near Knox, North Dakota
Knox, North Dakota
As of the census of 2000, there were 59 people, 22 households, and 13 families residing in the city. The population density was 118.6 people per square mile . There were 28 housing units at an average density of 56.3 per square mile . The racial makeup of the city was 96.61% White, 1.69% African...
.
In 1902 Noble moved to the Claresholm, Alberta
Claresholm, Alberta
Claresholm is a town located within southern Alberta, Canada. It is located on Highway 2, approximately northwest of the City of Lethbridge and south of the City of Calgary. The town is the seat of the Municipal District of Willow Creek No...
area in what was then part of the Northwest Territories. The next year, he married Margaret Naomi Fraser. In the following years Noble purchased large tracts of land southeast of Claresholm. He constructed many of the area’s first buildings and the hamlet of Noble (later renamed Nobleford) was established in 1909.
By 1922 Noble had accumulated about 30000 acres (121.4 km²) of land but a series of poor crops, falling prices and too much debt meant he was unable to keep up the payments on the land. In the autumn of that year the Spokane Trust Company to whom he owed $600,000 foreclosed on the Noble estate and he lost all his holdings.
By 1930 he had regained some of his holdings and was farming approximately 8000 acres (32.4 km²) of land.
The Noble Blade
The land that Charles Noble farmed in southern Alberta sits in what is known as the dry-belt. During the period of drought known as the dirty thirtiesDust Bowl
The Dust Bowl, or the Dirty Thirties, was a period of severe dust storms causing major ecological and agricultural damage to American and Canadian prairie lands from 1930 to 1936...
, farmland within the dry-belt, cultivated with mole-board plow and/or double disc and summer fallow
Summer fallow
Summer fallow, sometimes called fallow cropland, is cropland that is purposely kept out of production during a regular growing season. Resting the ground in this manner allows one crop to be grown using the moisture and nutrients of more than one crop cycle...
ed every other year, was subject to massive soil erosion. In 1935, while on a visit to California, Noble observed a sugar beet farmer using a straight blade tool to cut into the subsoil beneath the beets to loosen them for harvesting. He noticed that the blade was disturbing and killing weeds without burying them. Noble realized if he could apply a similar implement to the dry land back in Alberta thus leaving the crop stubble as "trash" on top to hold the soil and protect it from blowing the problem of soil erosion may be solved. He immediately fabricated a tillage implement patterned after the sugar beet harvesting tool. He called his invention the Noble blade. The next year he carried out all his summer fallow work using his invention. The results were so successful by 1937 he had fabricated 50 of the implements which he sold to friends and neighbors. By 1941 a factory was built within the village of Nobleford. Sales of the Noble blade occurred throughout the dry land farming areas of the world. The Noble blade is touted as one of the most important agricultural inventions of the 20th century. In 1982 the company that Noble had founded was sold to Versatile Manufacturing Ltd.
Versatile
Versatile is a Canadian brand of agricultural equipment that has produced augers, swathers and combine harvester.In the 1970s, it was an independent operation, founded by Peter Pakosh and Roy Robinson, that had 70% of the 4WD tractor market and then was later owned by Ford and Fiat's New Holland,...
Today, variations of the Noble blade, produced by all the major farm equipment manufacturers, have supplanted the mold board plow as the main tillage implement in use.