A. Noble & Son Limited was founded in Adelaide in 1911,
importing supplies for the foundry industry. After a trip to Broken
Hill by the founder, George Adie Noble, an interest in supplying
mining equipment was soon developed. Wire rope was imported from
the United Kingdom, which was a basis for Noble's growth.
The company opened in Victoria in 1935, selling foundry equipment.
In 1957 Nobles in Adelaide became the first Australian Wire Rope
distributor to manufacture Talurit mechanically spliced slings. In
1961 this business was developed in Melbourne, while tensile
testing of wire rope, slings and other lifting gear became
established.
In 1968 with the developing offshore industry in Bass Strait,
Nobles commissioned the then largest swaging machine and tensile
tester in Australia. The offshore construction engineers wanted
products thoroughly tested, and if necessary destruction-tested. To
provide for this need Nobles built a 3500kN test machine for its
Victorian operation.
In 1969 Nobles purchased an engineering business and concentrated
on items for the offshore and the mining industries. Through the
1970s and 1980s the company established operations in Perth and
Karratha in Western Australia. Nobles took over the lifting gear
operations of Spear & Jackson in Brisbane and Sydney in May
1983. In 1987 a branch was established in Rockhampton, followed by
a move to Darwin in 1992. In recent times branches have also been
established in Newcastle (2002), Port Hedland (2004), Mackay (2007)
and Derrimut (2010). Nobles now have 15 branches throughout
Australia.
The mining industry has played a large part in Nobles' progress.
The company has supplied wire ropes, Reliance Hexham suspension
gear and other shaft equipment to all major areas of underground
mining.
In general industry, Nobles sheave blocks have become widely used.
Blocks up to 300 tonne capacity have been manufactured and proof
load tested. The company has also supplied hooks to 250 tonne
capacity.
With the increased requirement for larger lifting gear, Nobles, in
1978-80, built a 2500 tonne swaging press to manufacture heavy lift
slings. A 1,000 tonne capacity test machine was also built and
commissioned for the testing of heavy lift slings and associated
equipment.
Nobles have developed electronic load measuring products for
cranes, conveyer belt tensioning and production monitoring in the
mining industry and stock and support a range of standard load
cells.
An increased range of services have been pivotal in Nobles growth
with lifting equipment inspection and testing services expanded to
include mobile test machines under our NATA accredited
laboratories. The company has also invested heavily in new
equipment providing the latest technology for conducting
Non-Destructive Tests on wire ropes.
Nobles also has associations with overseas manufacturers, who
produce the latest technology in fibre ropes from UHMWPE to high
tenacity Polypropylene and Polyethylene ropes in a variety of
constructions to suit the commercial fishing, marine and towage
industries.