The Age and Historical Process of Barcode Invention
Edit： Click： Times Date：2025-9-15
How was barcode invented?
Barcodes first appeared in the 1940s, but their practical application and development were still around the 1970s. Nowadays, barcode technology is widely used in various countries and regions around the world, and it is rapidly being promoted to other parts of the world. Its application areas are becoming increasingly widespread and gradually penetrating into many technological fields. As early as the 1940s, two American engineers, Joe Wood Land and Berny Silver, began researching the use of codes to represent food items and corresponding automatic identification devices, and obtained a US patent in 1949.
This pattern resembles a miniature archery target and is called the "Bull Eye" code. The concentric circle of the target is drawn into a circular shape by circular bars and empty spaces. In principle, the "bull's eye" code is very similar to later barcodes, but unfortunately, the technology and commodity economy at that time did not have the ability to print this code. However, 20 years later, Joe Woodland became the founder of the North American Unified Code UPC code as an engineer at IBM. Several inventors, represented by Girard Fe sel, filed a patent in 1959, describing that each number from 0 to 9 could be composed of seven parallel bars. But this code makes it difficult for machines to read and inconvenient for humans to read. However, this idea did promote the emergence and development of barcodes later on. Soon after, E.F. Brinker applied for another patent, which was to label barcodes on trams. A system invented by Sylvania in the late 1960s, which was adopted by the North American railway system. These two can be said to be the earliest applications of barcode technology.
In 1970, the Ad Hoc Committee of American supermarkets developed the Universal Product Code (UPC), and many groups also proposed various barcode symbol schemes, as shown in the bottom right and left figures above. UPC codes were first tested in the grocery retail industry, laying the foundation for the standardization and widespread adoption of barcodes in the future. The following year, Blessey Company developed Blessey codes and corresponding automatic recognition systems for inventory verification. This is the first practical application of barcode technology in warehouse management systems. In 1972, Monarch Marking and others developed the Code bar code, marking a new stage of development for barcode technology in the United States.
In 1973, the Uniform Code Council (UCC) established the UPC barcode system, achieving standardization of the coding system. In the same year, the food and grocery industry adopted UPC code as the universal standard code system, which played a positive role in promoting the widespread application of barcode technology in commercial circulation and sales.
In 1974, Dr. Davide Allair of Intermec developed the 39 code, which was quickly adopted by the US Department of Defense as a military barcode system. 39 code is the first letter and number barcode, which was later widely used in the industrial field.
The successful application of UPC codes in supermarkets in the United States and Canada in 1976 was a great encouragement, especially for Europeans who showed great interest in it. The following year, the European Community developed the European Article Codes EAN-13 and EAN-8 based on the UPC-A code, signed a memorandum of agreement on the "European Article Codes", and officially established the European Article Codes Association (EAN). In 1981, as EAN had developed into an international organization, it was renamed the International Association for Item Numbering, abbreviated as IAN. But due to historical reasons and customs, it is still called EAN today. Japan began to establish POS systems in 1974, researching standardization, information input methods, printing technology, and more. And based on EAN, the Japanese item code JAN was developed in 1978. In the same year, he joined the International Article Numbering Association and began to register as a manufacturer, fully engaging in the development of barcode technology and its series of products. Ten years later, he became the largest user of EAN.
Since the early 1980s, multiple studies have been conducted to increase the information density of barcode symbols. 128 code and 93 code are among the research results. 128 was recommended for use in 1981, while 93 was used in 1982. The advantage of these two codes is that the barcode symbol density is nearly 30% higher than that of the 39 code. With the development of barcode technology, the types of barcode systems are constantly increasing, making standardization a prominent issue. For this purpose, military standard 1189 was successively formulated; Cross 25 code, 39 code, and Kudba code ANSI standard MH10.8M, etc. At the same time, some industries have also begun to establish industry standards to meet development needs. Afterwards, David Allier developed the 49 code, a non-traditional barcode symbol with higher density than previous barcode symbols. Then Ted Williams introduced the 16K code, which is a code system suitable for laser systems. So far, there are more than 40 barcode systems, and corresponding automatic recognition equipment and printing technology have also made significant progress. Since the mid-1980s, some universities, research departments, and export enterprises in China have gradually put the research and promotion of barcode technology on the agenda. Some industries such as books, postal and telecommunications, material management departments, and foreign trade departments have begun to use barcode technology.
At the time of the arrival of the information society characterized by economic globalization, information networking, internationalization of life, and cultural localization, barcode and barcode technology, as well as various application systems that originated in the 1940s, were researched in the 1960s, applied in the 1970s, and popularized in the 1980s, have caused a major change in the global circulation field and are sweeping the world. Barcodes, as a printable computer language, are referred to as "computer culture" by futurists. In the international circulation field of the 1990s, barcodes were hailed as the "ID card" for goods entering the international computer market, which made the world take notice of them. The barcode printed on the outer packaging of goods is like an economic information link that organically connects manufacturers, exporters, wholesalers, retailers, and customers from all over the world. These links, once connected to the EDI system, form a diverse and multifaceted information network. The relevant information of various commodities is like being input into an invisible and never-ending automatic guidance and transmission mechanism, flowing to all parts of the world and active in the field of global commodity circulation.
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