History of Barcodes Timeline

(1948–Present)

The history of barcodes traces the development of machine-readable symbols from early concepts in the late 1940s to the sophisticated linear and two-dimensional codes used worldwide today. More Less

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Invention and patents

Food Fair inspires automated checkout research

1948

In 1948, Bernard Silver, a graduate student at Drexel Institute of Technology in Philadelphia, overheard the president of the local Food Fair chain asking a dean to investigate automatically reading product information during checkout.

Woodland and Silver develop the barcode concept

1948

Following the Food Fair request, Bernard Silver and Norman Joseph Woodland worked on a system for encoding and automatically reading product information.

Barcode patent application is filed

Oct 20, 1949

Woodland and Silver filed a patent application titled “Classifying Apparatus and Method.” It described linear and bull's-eye printing patterns, along with the mechanical and electronic systems required to read them.

Woodland moves to IBM

1951

In 1951, Norman Joseph Woodland moved to IBM and repeatedly tried to interest the company in developing the barcode system.

Image source: Barcode

Barcode patent is issued

Oct 7, 1952

The United States issued Woodland and Silver's barcode patent, US Patent 2,612,994, on 7 October 1952.

Image source: Barcode

Philco purchases the barcode patent

1962

Philco purchased Woodland and Silver's barcode patent in 1962 and later sold it to RCA.

Railway and industrial systems

Collins begins work on KarTrak

1959

Immediately after receiving his master's degree from MIT in 1959, David Collins began working at GTE Sylvania and addressing the problem of automatically identifying railway cars.

Boston and Maine tests KarTrak

1961

The Boston and Maine Railroad tested the KarTrak automatic identification system on its gravel cars in 1961.

British Railways barcode system is documented

Dec 1962

Modern Railways recorded that British Railways had already perfected a barcode-reading system capable of correctly reading rolling stock traveling at 100 mph, or 160 km/h, without mistakes.

Collins seeks funding for industrial barcodes

1967

As the railway system matured in 1967, David Collins sought management funding to develop a black-and-white version of the code for use in other industries.

AAR selects KarTrak as a standard

1967

After testing continued through 1967, the Association of American Railroads selected KarTrak as the standard automatic car-identification system for the North American fleet.

KarTrak installations begin

Oct 10, 1967

Installations of the KarTrak automatic railway identification system began on 10 October 1967.

Image source: KarTrak

Computer Identics installs a factory scanner

1969

Computer Identics Corporation installed one of its first two scanning systems at a General Motors Buick factory in Flint, Michigan, in the spring of 1969.

KarTrak rollout reaches 95 percent

1974

An economic downturn and widespread industry bankruptcies in the early 1970s slowed KarTrak's rollout. By 1974, however, 95 percent of the North American rail fleet had been labeled.

Retail standardization

NAFC discusses automated checkout

1966

In 1966, the National Association of Food Chains held a meeting to discuss automated checkout systems.

IBM assembles its UPC planning team

1971

In 1971, IBM assembled a team for an intensive planning session. Members worked 12 to 18 hours a day on deployment, system integration, and a rollout schedule for barcode technology.

RCA demonstrates its bull's-eye code

1971

RCA demonstrated its bull's-eye barcode at an industry meeting in the spring of 1971.

Sainsbury's uses shelf-mounted barcodes

1972

The UK supermarket group Sainsbury's operated the first successful barcode system in 1972, using shelf-mounted barcodes developed by Plessey.

RCA begins the Kroger barcode test

Jul 1972 - Jan 1974

RCA began an 18-month test of its bull's-eye barcode in a Kroger store in Cincinnati in July 1972.

IBM introduces the UPC symbol to manufacturers

1973

By 1973, IBM's barcode team was meeting with grocery manufacturers to introduce the symbol that would need to be printed on product packaging or labels.

George Laurer's barcode design is chosen

1973

In 1973, the Uniform Grocery Product Code Council chose the barcode design developed by George Laurer.

IBM UPC becomes the NAFC standard

Apr 3, 1973

On 3 April 1973, the IBM Universal Product Code was selected as the National Association of Food Chains standard.

UPC scanning begins at Marsh supermarket

Jun 1974

In June 1974, Marsh supermarket in Troy, Ohio, used a scanner made by Photographic Sciences Corporation to scan a UPC barcode on a pack of Wrigley's chewing gum.

First commercial UPC scan

Jun 26, 1974

On 26 June 1974, a 10-pack of Wrigley's Juicy Fruit gum was scanned, marking the first commercial use of the UPC.

Supermarket scanner adoption faces setbacks

1975 - 1976

IBM projected that 75 percent adoption would be needed in 1975. Adoption was slow, and Business Week described the technology as “The Supermarket Scanner That Failed” in a 1976 article.

Global adoption and applications

Barcodes encode software source code

1970 - 1980

During the 1970s and 1980s, software source code was occasionally encoded in barcodes and printed on paper. Cauzin Softstrip and Paperbyte were symbologies designed for this application.

Sims Supermarkets introduces barcodes in Australia

1979

Sims Supermarkets became the first location in Australia to use barcodes, beginning in 1979.

United States military adopts Code 39

1981

In 1981, the United States Department of Defense adopted Code 39 for marking all products sold to the United States military.

Image source: Code 39

Barcode Battler uses product barcodes

1991

The 1991 Barcode Battler computer game system used standard barcodes to generate combat statistics.

Image source: Barcode Battler

Airlines adopt 2D boarding-pass barcodes

2005 - 2008

Since 2005, airlines have used an IATA-standard 2D barcode on boarding passes. Since 2008, 2D barcodes sent to mobile phones have enabled electronic boarding passes.

Image source: Boarding pass

Barcode.tv launches

2011

In 2011, the National Film Board of Canada and ARTE France launched Barcode.tv, a web documentary allowing users to view films about everyday objects by scanning product barcodes with an iPhone camera.