In the beginning: How and why was the barcode invented?
We at www.barcodeworld.co.za love history and in this article, we take a look into the history of the retail barcode. The barcode was originally created by American inventor Norman Joseph Woodland in 1974. On 26 June of that year, in a supermarket in Troy, Ohio, the first barcoded item was scanned. Woodland had been inspired to find a solution to a conundrum he had been told about while at the Drexel Institute of Technology: A distraught supermarket executive had been talking to the dean of engineering, asking him if he could find a solution to the hold-ups in the check-out lines. The dean turned down the idea, but a junior postgraduate, Bernard Silver, overheard the conversation and was intrigued. He later mentioned it to Woodland, who was a peer and had graduated from Drexel in 1947, earning a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering.
Woodland, who was already an inventor, decided to find a creative idea to solve the problem, although it was only many years later that the retail barcode was introduced to the world. Woodland claimed that learning Morse Code in Boy Scouts gave him the idea for the barcode:
"I remember I was thinking about dots and dashes when I poked my four fingers into the sand and, for whatever reason - I did not know - I pulled my hand toward me and I had four lines. I said, 'Golly! Now I have four lines and they could be wide lines and narrow lines, instead of dots and dashes. Now I have a better chance of finding the doggone thing.' Then, only seconds later, I took my four fingers - they were still in the sand - and I swept them round into a circle."
Woodland had this 'lightbulb moment' in 1949, and he and Silver filed their patent that same year. Woodland built a crude prototype in his home, but what he really needed was a mini-computer and light bright enough to read the bars, which were not available at the time.
Woodland and Silver's patent showing the retail barcode shaped like a bull's eye.
The laser (Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation) was invented in 1960, which had an important influence on the development. The Radio Corporation of America had a small research team that was on the look-out for new projects. They heard about Woodland and Silver's patent, although at the time it looked more like a bull's eye than the bars we know today. They had decided on this shape as it could be read from every angle. Further development ensued and in 1972 the first automated check-outs were installed at a Kroger Kenwood Plaza store in Cincinnati.
The first retail barcode being tested in Cincinnati.
The bull's eye improved efficiencies, but the chain store faced a dilemma: The retail barcode needed to be universal and rolled out at all of the outlets. So the work began to introduce a retail barcode that could be introduced into all retail outlets. It needed to store information about each particular product: the price, the manufacturer, special offers and so forth.
Manufacturers already had their method of doing things and were not overly keen on having to change their systems and print a retail barcode to their labels. Four years passed before a workable solution was found that could be applied to the entire industry.
Several companies made bids to the Symbol Selection Committee to produce a retail barcode that met all the specifications. This included IBM (International Business Machines). Woodland happened to be working there at the time, but it was a colleague of his, George Laurer, who came up with the winning one. The committee listed the requirements as needing to include the following:
The barcode needed to be printed using the existing technology that was used for labels.
It needed to be small and no more than 1.5 square inches (3.8 square cm).
Should include 10 digits.
Needed to be readable from all directions.
The design must ensure there were fewer than one in 20,000 undetected errors.
Must be able to be read at speed.
It was expected that George Laurer would produce a barcode similar to Woodland's bull's eye shape, but instead he designed a rectangular barcode. The company was sceptical, but Laurer convinced them after demonstrating how well it worked. He recalled: 'There were many sceptics in IBM ... not the least of whom was B.O. Evans himself [his employer]. However at the end of a flawless demonstration for Mr. Evans, we had our ace softball pitcher pitch beanbag ash trays, with symbols on the bottom, as fast as he could over the scanner. When each one read correctly, Mr. Evans was convinced.'
A prototype scanner was built by a division of IBM and Laurer's Universal Product Code (UPC) came into being. In March 1973, the Symbol Selection Committee met and selected Laurer's as the ultimate winner in the race.
Nonetheless, the UPC was not an instant hit and took time to become the norm for manufacturers and retailers. When Walmart rolled out the system, most companies followed suit, especially during the 1980s.
One of the main benefits is the accuracy of data, which enables managers to conclusively determine which products were popular and sold well and which items did not, transforming market research in the process. They have made stocktaking, financial management, production lines and check-outs far more efficient and accurate.
In 1992, President George H.W. Bush presented Woodland with a National Medal of Technology 'for his invention and contribution to the commercialization of barcode technology which improved productivity in every industrial sector and gave rise to the barcode industry.' Woodland passed away in New Jersey in 2012 at the age of 91.
References:
Wikipedia, n.d. National medal of technology and innovation. Available at (accessed 4 December 2020)
