Barcode Patent
The barcode patent was US Patent 2,612,994, issued on October 7, 1952, to Norman Joseph Woodland and Bernard Silver for a classifying apparatus that read printed codes of lines or concentric circles, the basis of later barcodes.
What happened and why it matters
The Woodland and Silver patent is the origin of the barcode, and nearly every scan in a modern warehouse, from receiving to packing to delivery, traces back to it. Filed on October 20, 1949, it described both linear and bull's-eye patterns and the equipment to read them, but practical scanners needed lasers and cheap computing that did not yet exist. The inventors sold the patent to Philco in 1952, and it expired in 1969, before barcodes reached grocery checkouts in the 1970s. Woodland later helped develop the UPC symbol that brands print on their products today.
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Sources
- NIHF Inductee N. Joseph Woodland invent.org
- US2612994A: Classifying apparatus and method patents.google.com
- Barcode en.wikipedia.org