History of Barcode

In 1948, tired of the slow and often incorrect human input of data at the checkout counter, a US supermarket approached Drexal Institute of Technology, Philadelphia , to find a solution to read product information automatically. Though the university declined the project, Bob Silver, a graduate student overheard the conversation and together with his friend Norman Joseph Woodland, a mechanical engineering teacher, took up the project himself.

The pair came up with several solutions, including a linear barcode and a "bull's eye code" made up of concentric circles and worked on a prototype to read them. In 1952 Silver and Woodland were granted a patent for their ideas but after receiving offers, including one from IBM, Woodland's employer, they sold to the highest bidder, Philco Corporation, who later sold it to RCA Corporation.

In 1966 the National Association of Food Chains (NAFC) put out a call to equipment manufacturers for systems that would speed up the checkout process. A year later the RCA Corporation, installed the first automated check out counter, reading product-coded labels using the "bull's eye code".

There were however problems with the RCA code and it was recognised that the industry would have to agree on a standard coding scheme open to all equipment manufacturers. In response a consortium was established to set guidelines for barcode development.

Around the same time, IBM's George Laurer, based on the ideas of his colleague Woodland , invented a code of rectangular bars. As a result, an adhoc symbol selection committee was formed to hear representations from RCA Corporation and IBM and they found IBM's code to have less distortion and that its size could be reduced.

On 3rd April 1973 the adhoc committee unveiled the UNIVERSAL PRODUCT CODE to the world with few modifications to IBM's rectangular symbol. A year later, on June 26th 1974 , Wrigley's Gum became the first consumer item ever scanned.

Meanwhile industrial applications of automatic ID had also begun. In the 1950s the Association of American Railroad had researched into automated ways of identifying railcars. In 1967 the Association adopted an optical barcode, known as 2 of 5, and car labelling and scanner installation started on October 10 th 1967 . The system was abandoned in the late 1970s due to economic troubles.

Since then however the barcode technology has expanded and advanced. More symbologies have been developed and their use has grown into other industries.