Bernard Silver’s inspiration for a barcode first began in 1948 after overhearing a conversation in a local food chain, Food Fair, where the then president of the store was wanting a means of tracking store purchases at the point of sale. He brought this idea to his friend, Norman Joseph Woodland, and they both began working on a variety of methods to automatically read information on a product during the checkout process.
Who invented the barcode?
Bernard Silver, together with Norman Joseph Woodland, were the first to begin working on a variety of methods to automatically read product information during the checkout process.
Silver’s first idea was born from drawing Morse Code in the sand on a beach, extending the dots and dashes into lines or bars. Later, a bullseye concept was also developed to try resolve an issue of reading the barcode in different directions. On the 7th of October 1952 a patent (2,612,994) was awarded for both types.
Unfortunately Silver passed away in 1961 and the next year the patent was sold to Philco. Later the patent was sold again to RCA (formerly RCA Corporation and founded as the Radio Corporation of America).
Woodland’s patent and Woodland’s work at IBM
The National Association of Food Chains, NAFC expressed an interest in automating checkout systems in 1966, and the RCA, who had bought the Woodland patent, began testing a version of the barcoding system. In a later meeting, IBM, who had employed woodland several years prior, asked him to develop a new barcoding system. In the end, it was the IBM UPC that was adopted in 1973.
What was the first barcoded product?
A 10-pack of Wrigley’s chewing gum was first product scanned and purchased in a Marsh Supermarket.
A few months later the first product, a 10-pack of Wrigley’s chewing gum was scanned and purchased in Marsh’s Supermarket.
Early implementation of the barcode scanning concept was slow, but by 1980 the benefits of the system was apparent and stores began converting rapidly to the universal product code, UPC. Even with scepticism and concern from conspiracy theorists and religious groups, the barcoding system was adopted and is now used worldwide. Since then, variations of the barcode are used at all stages of the manufacturing, production and sales levels. Almost every product sold in stores now displays a scannable barcode.
Progress was slow at first, but now barcodes are here to stay
Today, should you wish to barcode your product for sale in retail stores, you will require a 13-digit EAN code. Lite Barcodes can assist you to have your product barcoded at an affordable price, within one business day. Simply fill out a registration form and make payment, it’s that simple!
Have any questions? Speak to our customer service representatives through our online chat support or call us on +234 (0) 906 127 23 99. You can also fill out a contact form here
