He was a member of the engineering honor society Sigma Xi and was a brother of the Delta Phi social fraternity.
Dorr Oliver's business was twofold: the separation of liquids from solids, for instance by centrifugation, and the application of Fluid-Bed technology to a variety of process engineering, and incineration activities, including coal-fired boilers with sulphur capture.
Shortly thereafter, British Petroleum fully acquired Standard Oil and re-shaped and re-organized the energy activities.
A significant period of world-wide growth occurred, leading ultimately to an offer of purchase for the Company In 1992, Harriman bought a 20 percent stake in Dorr Oliver.
Dorr Oliver was then sold to a German company in 1995, and Barton retired as President after more than twelve years in that position.