history

Edward Huber was born in Kelso, Indiana in 1837 to German parents. As a young man, he apprenticed in a blacksmith shop. Huber invented a hay rake and moved to Marion, Ohio in 1865 to manufacture it, During the same year, he married Elizabeth Hammerle of Kelso, Indiana. Her brothers came to Marion and set up a planning mill with Edward Huber as superintendent. A steam traction engine was Huber’s next major invention, It was built by a new firm known as Huber, Gunn & Company. Grain threshers were added in 1880. From 1863 to 1898, Huber’s company grew exponentially. Hay rakes to steam engines, and everything in between, Huber was applying for new patents by the dozen. In all, Edward Huber received over 100 different patents. Huber bought out the patent rights and interests of the VanDuzen Company of Cincinnati in 1898. VanDuzen had built Froehlich’s first tractor engine, and VanDuzen’s own tractor efforts attracted the Huber people. In 1898, Huber built 30 of these single cylinder outfits but went back to the drawing boards for a better machine. After some 14 years, Huber entered the tractor business again and remained there until production was suspended during World War II. The company still manufactured construction equipment until they were acquired by A-T-O in 1977, and The Huber Division was sold to Enterprise Fabricators in 1994. Production ended after 2002.