Revolutionizing Retail: The Invention and Legacy of the Barcode

Joseph Woodland and Bernard Silver revolutionized the retail and logistics industries with their groundbreaking invention of the barcode. The concept emerged in 1948 when Silver, then a graduate student, overheard a supermarket executive seeking a method to automatically read product information at checkout. Intrigued, Silver shared the idea with his friend Joseph Woodland, whose background in mechanical engineering fueled their innovative journey.

Woodland found inspiration in Morse code, the system of dots and dashes used for communication. He envisioned that these elements could be extended into lines of varying thickness to encode information. In a moment of clarity, while sketching ideas on the sands of Miami Beach, Woodland conceptualized the first barcode—a design that could hold data and be scanned electronically. Initially, the pair developed a circular barcode, or "bullseye" pattern, which they believed would be easier to scan from any orientation.

In 1952, Woodland and Silver secured a patent for their "Classifying Apparatus and Method." However, their invention was ahead of its time. The technology needed for practical implementation, such as efficient scanners and computing power, did not exist. This gap delayed widespread adoption until the 1970s, when advancements in laser technology and the development of the Universal Product Code (UPC) made the system viable. IBM, where Woodland later worked, played a pivotal role in refining and standardizing the barcode for commercial use.

The breakthrough moment came in 1974 at a Marsh supermarket in Troy, Ohio. A pack of Wrigley’s chewing gum became the first product scanned using a barcode, marking the dawn of a new era in retail. This milestone showcased the barcode’s potential to streamline inventory management, reduce human error, and expedite transactions.

Today, barcodes are ubiquitous across industries, from healthcare and manufacturing to logistics and beyond. Their influence extends to technologies like QR codes and RFID systems, which further enhance data capture and operational efficiency. Woodland and Silver’s invention not only revolutionized retail but also laid the groundwork for the modern automated identification and data capture (AIDC) industry. As the global economy grows increasingly dependent on seamless data integration, their legacy continues to drive innovation and efficiency in the digital age.
Revolutionizing Retail: The Invention and Legacy of the Barcode

History of barcode

Barcode is an optical marker printed on paper or other object. By changing a series of special patterns’ color, shape, thickness and spacing, barcode can encode an ID number or other information associated with its hosting object. The Westinghouse Corporation introduced the original concept of the barcode as early as 1929. The original intention was to use them to sort electricity bills. However, the system was not fully developed.

In 1932, Walter Flint, a Harvard business student, wrote his master’s thesis on the use of punch cards for inventory management in grocery stores. Punched cards placed in a catalog were used to pull items from a stock room and transfer them to a checkout meter. At the same time an invoice was produced and inventory was changed to reflect the sale.

Wrigley’s Extra White Bottles Sugarfree Gum

The concept of barcodes was first developed by two Drexel University students, Bernard Silver and Norman Woodland in 1948. A United States patent was issued in 1952.

Their idea originated from a conversation Silver overheard concerning a firm’s inability to track inventory. It was a ‘bull’s eye’ symbol that consisted of a series of concentric circles. The first commercial use of barcodes was by the RCA/Kroger system installed in Cincinnati on the behest of the National Association of Food Chains.

The Universal Price Code sometimes called a ‘barcode’ was introduced in 1973 to speed up and eliminate human cashier errors in US supermarkets. It was not until 1974 that the first fully effective grocery store barcode scanner was introduced. On 26 June 1974 a 10-packet of Wrigley’s Juicy Fruit chewing gum with a barcode was scanned in the March Supermarket, Troy, Ohio.

True acceptance of barcodes for industrial applications began in 1981 when the US Department of Defense mandated barcodes, specifically the Code 39 symbology, for DOD material.
History of barcode