The Invention of the Modern Barcode
In short: The development of the modern barcode began in the late 1940s when N. Joseph Woodland and Bernard Silver conceived of using parallel stripes to encode data, filing a patent in 1949 that was granted in 1952. Although early bull's-eye designs were tested in the 1950s, high scanner costs prevented widespread adoption until the 1970s, when a consortium of retailers and manufacturers sought a standardized system to automate checkout and reduce costs. In 1973, George Laurer’s rectangular design was selected as the Universal Product Code (UPC) standard, replacing earlier circular concepts with a for…
A 1:51 short film in the series “Inventors & Inventions”.
Sources used in this film: Smithsonianmag.com, “The History of the Bar Code”; Smithsonian Magazine, “Bar Codes: Reading Between the Lines”; Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University, “Interoperability Case Study: The Bar Code/UPC”; Smithsonian Institution, “N. Joseph Woodland Papers | NMAH.AC.1433 | SOVA, Smithsonian Institution”; University of Maryland, College Park (UMD), “Alumnus Laurer, Inventor of the UPC Bar Code, Featured in NY Times Magazine”; North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, “Bar Code, Retailing Innovation, Product of IBM and RTP”; Stony Brook University, “Microsoft Word - Memoirs-Lauer.doc”; americanhistory.si.edu, “Supermarket Scanner”.
Sources used in this film
- Smithsonianmag.com — The History of the Bar Code · View →
- Smithsonian Magazine — Bar Codes: Reading Between the Lines · View →
- Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University — Interoperability Case Study: The Bar Code/UPC · View →
- Smithsonian Institution — N. Joseph Woodland Papers | NMAH.AC.1433 | SOVA, Smithsonian Institution · View →
- University of Maryland, College Park (UMD) — Alumnus Laurer, Inventor of the UPC Bar Code, Featured in NY Times Magazine · View →
- North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources — Bar Code, Retailing Innovation, Product of IBM and RTP · View →
- Stony Brook University — Microsoft Word - Memoirs-Lauer.doc · View →
- americanhistory.si.edu — Supermarket Scanner · View →
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: The History of the Bar Code
- Also: Smithsonian Magazine: Bar Codes: Reading Between the Lines
- Also: Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University: Interoperability Case Study: The Bar Code/UPC
- Also: Smithsonian Institution: N. Joseph Woodland Papers | NMAH.AC.1433 | SOVA, Smithsonian Institution
- Also: University of Maryland, College Park (UMD): Alumnus Laurer, Inventor of the UPC Bar Code, Featured in NY Times Magazine
- Also: North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources: Bar Code, Retailing Innovation, Product of IBM and RTP
- Also: Stony Brook University: Microsoft Word - Memoirs-Lauer.doc
- Also: americanhistory.si.edu: Supermarket Scanner
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