The first barcode, resembling a bullseye, was invented by Norman J. Woodland and Bernard Silver, two students from Drexel University, in 1948. Their invention aimed to solve the supermarket industry's problems of inventory management and customer checkout. In 1952, they received a patent. Despite working well in labs, the technology's limitations at the time made it impractical for real-world application.
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The first effective use of linear barcodes emerged in the 1960s, thanks to the Association of American Railroads and Sylvania's creation of the KarTrak ACI (Automatic Car Identification) system in Needham, Massachusetts.
David J. Collins, an MIT graduate, designed this system prompted by his experiences with the Pennsylvania Railroad. The KarTrak system involved using patterns of 3M Scotchlite blue and orange strips that encoded ownership details and unique car numbers.
Photo of KarTrak code by Quinn Rossi - http://www.flickr.com/photos/theeskimo/4898894840/. Licensed under CC BY 2.0 via Commons.
The KarTrak barcode reader was massive and activated as trains approached, shining a 500-watt light on the rail cars while sensors read the reflections. The data was typically printed on teletype machines, recorded on magnetic tape, or directly input into computers, which at that time were large enough to fill a room.
The KarTrak system became a US standard in 1968, with widespread adoption across North American railroads. By 1975, 90% of US rail cars had KarTrak labels. However, the system was abandoned in 1978 due to issues like poor read accuracy, high maintenance costs, and economic downturns in the railroad industry.
Nevertheless, you might still see remnants of KarTrak labels on railroad cars today.
Lasers – Not Just for Sharks
Amid KarTrak's peak, David J. Collins became frustrated with Sylvania's reluctance to explore new markets for barcode technology. Leaving Sylvania, he co-founded Computer Identics Corporation.
Computer Identics harnessed more affordable helium-neon lasers to illuminate barcodes. Unlike the 500-watt light bulbs that generated too much heat and limited barcode readability to one direction, lasers could be redirected using motorized mirrors. This innovation enabled rapid and multi-angle barcode scanning, significantly improving speed, accuracy, and reliability.
This laser-based system found early success in a General Motors plant in Pontiac, Michigan, where it was used to track car axle manufacturing, establishing Computer Identics as a key player in industrial history.
Super Lasers Meet Supermarkets
Barcodes in supermarkets were seen as a potential revolution due to the considerable efficiency gains. During the 1970s, a technology race between RCA and IBM ensued.
RCA had acquired the original barcode patent but IBM, with Norman Woodland, the co-inventor, ultimately triumphed by developing the linear UPC barcode. The UPC's design helped overcome printing issues associated with RCA's bullseye barcode, which tended to smear and become unreadable. On June 26, 1974, Sharon Buchanan scanned the first grocery item with a UPC barcode at Marsh's Supermarket in Troy, Ohio. This item, a pack of Wrigley's Juicy Fruit gum, is now housed in the Smithsonian Museum.
The Glorious 1980s – Barcodes and the Author Come of Age
In 1986, when I was a high school freshman working in an independent supermarket, barcodes had begun to change the retail landscape. UPC barcodes were increasingly adopted in US supermarkets, simplifying checkouts and inventory management.
To be specific, a UPC-A barcode contains a Manufacturer ID and a Product Code, not a unique serial number. For instance, multiple identical boxes of Cheerios would all have the same UPC number, encoding the manufacturer and the product.
UPC barcodes, limited to 11 numeric digits and a trailing checksum, are less versatile for serialized asset tracking. Supermarkets, however, benefited immensely from faster checkout times, reduced theft, real-time sales monitoring, and more efficient inventory management.
In my role as a cashier at that time, I realized how inefficient manual data entry was and how much barcodes could streamline operations—a principle we uphold at TrackAbout to minimize manual data entry whenever possible.
:CueCat
Speaking of barcode history, we can't ignore the odd chapter of the :CueCat.
In 2000, US publications like Wired and Forbes printed proprietary barcodes beside articles and ads, which could only be read by a device called :CueCat. Designed to be plugged into a PC, this cat-shaped device aimed to merge physical and digital worlds, a concept ahead of its time and quickly deemed impractical.
As a proud owner of two :CueCats, I recall modifying them to function as generic barcode scanners. Installation required connecting the device to a PC's PS/2 keyboard port and bundling software to make it work "usefully" when a barcode was scanned—mostly to open web pages. The :CueCat represents a fascinating, albeit unsuccessful, attempt to innovate barcode technology.
For a more in-depth look at the :CueCat, the Wikipedia page offers an engaging read.
Today
Barcodes and various ID tags are ubiquitous in modern tracking systems. If you scan your surroundings, you’ll likely spot several items with barcodes.
Today, barcodes are fundamental for identifying hospital patients, verifying prescriptions, automating manufacturing, accessing Wi-Fi networks, exchanging contact information, checking in airline passengers, shopping for groceries, and even tracking calories using smartphone apps. Recently, I used a QR code at a bus stop to find out the next bus's arrival time. Barcodes are also crucial for tracking physical assets through supply chains, which brings us back to my focus in writing this piece.
There’s much to explore about barcodes, and I look forward to diving deeper into the world of asset tracking with you. I hope you find this journey insightful.
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References
For a beautifully-produced podcast on the origin of the barcode, listen to Episode 108: Barcodes from the 99% Invisible podcast. Additional references include:
Wikipedia: KarTrak
Barcoding.com: Barcodes Sweep the World by Tony Seideman
Wired: June 26, 1974: Supermarket Scanner Rings Up Historic Pack of Gum
John Keyes: KarTrak
A guide to ACI (Automatic Car Identification)/KarTrak labels
Wikipedia: CueCat
Optical machine-readable representation of data
For the taxonomic method, see DNA barcoding. For a code of conduct for barristers, see Legal ethics
A barcode or bar code is a method of representing data in a visual, machine-readable form. Initially, barcodes represented data by varying the widths, spacings and sizes of parallel lines. These barcodes, now commonly referred to as linear or one-dimensional (1D), can be scanned by special optical scanners, called barcode readers, of which there are several types.
Later, two-dimensional (2D) variants were developed, using rectangles, dots, hexagons and other patterns, called 2D barcodes or matrix codes, although they do not use bars as such. Both can be read using purpose-built 2D optical scanners, which exist in a few different forms. Matrix codes can also be read by a digital camera connected to a microcomputer running software that takes a photographic image of the barcode and analyzes the image to deconstruct and decode the code. A mobile device with a built-in camera, such as a smartphone, can function as the latter type of barcode reader using specialized application software and is suitable for both 1D and 2D codes.
Barcoded rolling stock in the UK, 1962
The barcode was invented by Norman Joseph Woodland and Bernard Silver and patented in the US in 1952. The invention was based on Morse code that was extended to thin and thick bars. However, it took over twenty years before this invention became commercially successful. UK magazine Modern Railways December 1962 pages 387–389 records how British Railways had already perfected a barcode-reading system capable of correctly reading rolling stock traveling at 100 mph (160 km/h) with no mistakes. The Association of American Railroads sponsored an early use of this barcode in an industrial context in the late 1960s. Developed by General Telephone and Electronics (GTE) and called KarTrak ACI (Automatic Car Identification), colorful stripes encoded ownership, type of equipment, and identification numbers on steel plates attached to railroad rolling stock. Two plates per car were read by trackside scanners as they moved past. The system was abandoned after about ten years, mainly due to its long-term unreliability.
Barcodes achieved commercial success when they were employed to automate supermarket checkouts. In 1973, the Uniform Grocery Product Code Council adopted the design by George Laurer, whose vertical-bar design outperformed the original circular barcode. Barcodes have since expanded to numerous tasks generically termed automatic identification and data capture (AIDC). The first successful barcode system in the UK was implemented by Sainsbury's in 1972, developing shelf-mounted barcodes by Plessey. In June 1974, Marsh supermarket in Troy, Ohio used a Photographic Sciences Corporation scanner for the first UPC barcode on a pack of Wrigley's gum. QR codes have recently surged in popularity, in part due to increased smartphone use.
While other systems have entered the AIDC market, the barcode's simplicity, universality, and affordability have kept it at the forefront, supplemented by technologies like RFID post-1995.
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In 1948, Bernard Silver at Drexel Institute of Technology in Philadelphia overheard a Food Fair executive asking for a system to automatically read product information at checkouts. Silver teamed up with Norman Woodland, and they developed a system first using ultraviolet ink, which proved impractical. Woodland, inspired by Morse code, refined the design to use narrow and wide lines. A patent application was filed on October 20, 1949, and issued in 1952. Woodland later moved to IBM to further the concept, though concerns over data processing technology of the time slowed development. Eventually, RCA acquired and attempted the patent for trials, leading to the widely adopted UPC barcode format created by IBM's George Laurer and team.
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