University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
The Grainger College of Engineering

H. Ashley Barber

[title]
To H. Ashley Barber, innovative mechanical engineer, inspirational engineering administrator, industrial executive, leader in associations dedicated to industry improvement, for his original contributions and leadership in developing new concepts and equipment for asphalt mixing and paving, earthmoving, materials handling, and a variety of industrial processes.

Chairman, Barber-Greene Company, Aurora, Illinois

  • BS, Mechanical Engineering, 1933

Mr. Barber joined Barber-Greene Company as a field service representative in 1933. Since that time he has served the company in a number of executive positions and became chairman in 1971. Under his direction the company has experienced dramatic growth and has become international in scope, with subsidiary companies in five foreign countries.

Mr. Barber played a major role in the development, testing, and introduction of the first practical asphalt paving machine and the continuous asphalt mixing plant, and is responsible for numerous advances in asphalt paving technology, particularly in the precise proportioning of materials in various types of asphalt mixing plants. He has been inventor, or co-inventor, of equipment covered by sixteen United States patents and a number of foreign patents.

He was the principal author of the Bituminous Construction Handbook, the standard asphalt paving reference work around the world and a widely used textbook in university civil engineering courses.

He is a member of the National Asphalt Pavement Association and member and past president of the Conveyor Equipment Manufacturers Association.

Current as of 1973.