Barcode History

Even in 1932 a dimpled chad could mess things up. You see, it was during that year that a project was developed by students Harvard University that utilized a punch card system to track and manage the sale of merchandise. If the punch card wasn’t exactly correct there would be some difficulty in product fulfillment, however, this ambitious project paved the way for advances that we now know as UPC in barcode history.

In 1948, a conversation was overheard that got Bernard Silver thinking. A local grocery chain wanted a tracking system for merchandise. Silver took the overheard request to his friend Norman Woodland who ultimately quit his teaching position at Drexel Institute in Philadelphia to apply all of his attention to the problem. A year later the duo of Silver and Woodland applied for a patent for their “Classifying Apparatus and Method”. The patent was issued in the fall of 1952.

While that original method for tracking merchandise is not used in present day bar coding, it does present a wonderful view of barcode history that rests on the shoulders of those unwilling to simply let an idea go.

Barcode history doesn’t end there because, following several years of tests in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s, the National Cash Register Company (NCR) implemented the first grocery store scanners. The success of this tracking method with modern day barcodes led the revolution in how products are labeled and tracked.

Today, as part of barcode history, a pack of gum is on display at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History. That random item was the very first item to be purchased using modern scanning technology and will hold a place in an odd bit of technological pop culture.

So, the next time you are waiting at the checkout you may have a greater appreciation for the process.