January 2015 101 where did barcode tech come from

Barcode 101

Where Did Barcode Tech Come From?

Silver and Woodland

Bernard Silver and Norman Woodland won a patent for barcodes as we know them—in 1949

It was a pattern of circular concentric rings which solved the problem of orienting the scanner to the symbol.

Silver and Woodland

Unfortunately it was also very sensitive to distortion in printing, so the rectangular barcode prevailed

Scanner technology

Silver and Woodland’s patent included an opto-mechanical

“scanner” that was too big, too expensive and too complicated.

Fortunately the laser was invented at nearly the same time as the barcode.

David Collins

David Collins at Computer Identics

Corporation put all the pieces together

and, in 1967, integrated laser technology with barcode technology.

Computer Identics installed their first scanning system at a GM plant in Flint, Michigan in 1969, and the idea began to catch on.

David Allais

David Allais at Intermec was

inventing bar code symbologies

in response to the needs of specific applications

such as the U.S. military.

A major pioneer in barcode technology, he is

credited with inventing Interleaved 2 of 5,

Code 39, Code 11, Code 93 and Code 49.

Kroger execs heard this at a National Association of Food Chains meeting and volunteered one of their stores to be a test site.

In the mid 1970’s the NAFC formed an Ad Hoc Committee on a Uniform Grocery Product Code. Its mission: to establish barcoding standards.

The result: the UPC

A technology is Born

On June 26, 1974, a 10 pack of Wrigley Juicy Fruit gum was scanned at Marsh’s Supermarket in Troy, Ohio, and the automatic identification revolution was launched.

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