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It was like science fiction. Maiman said the laser beam was so concentrated, so "coherent," that if it were beamed from Los Angeles to San Francisco it would spread only feet. The tiny beam was hot and sharp enough to cut through materials. Could it be used as a weapon? That was not the intention, Maiman assured reporters. Maiman had won the race to build the very first laser, beating fierce competition from around the world.
They did not know then what it might be used for, but they imagined it would have many applications in science and communications, in industry for cutting and welding, and in medicine for delicate surgery. But, as Maiman wrote, "I did not foresee the supermarket check-out scanner or the printer. A booklet produced in by the Kroger Company, which ran one of the largest supermarket chains in North America, signed off with a despairing wish for a better future: "Just dreaming a little.
Faster service, more productive service is needed desperately. We solicit your help. A small research team at the powerful Radio Corporation of America RCA was looking at a few new projects, including the possibility of an automatic bank cash machine, which they decided would not go because "the customer would not buy the concept.
A search of the history turned up some apparently hare-brained schemes: in one, customers picked out punch cards that identified what they wanted to buy and presented them to a cashier, who retrieved the goods from a store. This did not survive long in the grocery business.
Then there was the patent for a system in which the supermarket shopper threw everything into a basket, which was pushed under a scanner that identified each item and printed out a bill. They soon found the Woodland and Silver patent. This was not the rectangular bar code that Woodland had first envisaged on Miami Beach but the "bull's-eye" of concentric circles he thought would be a better design. When he and Silver worked on it, they decided the bull's-eye was the better symbol because it could be read accurately from any angle.
Printing the bull's-eye bar code proved to be one of the greatest difficulties, because any imperfections would make the whole system unworkable. A rotating turret of ballpoint pens, and a pen designed for astronauts that could write upside down, solved some of the problems.
All this technical development, involving several companies commissioned by RCA, was to lead up to the first real-life test at the Kroger Kenwood Plaza store in Cincinnati. More checkstands were installed and a comparison with other Kroger stores told an undeniable and very promising story: the bull's-eye bar code hit the target, with superior sales figures. But this was just one store in a nationwide grocery and supermarket business worth billions. If the laser and bar code were to revolutionize the checkout counter, they would have to be near universal.
The representatives of the grocery trade were charged with finding a way to introduce a Universal Product Code, a bar code of some description that would be common to all goods sold in supermarkets and imprinted by the manufacturers and retailers. The code would carry information about the nature of the product, the company that made it, and so on.
In-store computers would "read" this information with scanners and introduce their own variations, which might involve special offers and reductions. The vision was there but the difficulties in the way of its realization were daunting.
Manufacturers were often resistant to the idea of a universal code. They had existing methods of identification of products, which would have to be discarded or adapted. Cardboard manufacturers worried that a printed code might spoil their product. Canners did not want to be obliged to put bar codes on the base of cans. It took four years to arrive at a workable proposition to put to the whole industry.
Tracing the long pre-history of five twentieth-century inventions which have transformed our lives, Gavin Weightman reveals a fantastic cast of scientists and inspired amateurs whose ingenuity has given us the airplane, television, bar code, personal computer, and mobile phone.
Drexel teacher Norman Joseph Woodland went to work on a solution. For two years, he experimented with many different data collection techniques until he found one that worked. The first barcode invented used Morse code, and Woodland wrote out the dots and dashes that represented the product number and extended the lines of each symbol vertically, making the linear code.
To read this barcode, Woodward made a device adapted from the Lee de Forest movie sound system. With films, the light detected is converted into sound. Woodward applied for a patent for the modern-day barcode and barcode scanner in , and it was approved three years later. Philco , a pioneer in television, radio and battery production, purchased it, making it the first barcode manufacturer. A few years later, that company sold it to RCA.
Long before Woodward devised a way to read barcodes, grocers knew they needed a way to keep track of the thousands of items coming in and going out of their shops daily.
As stores grew larger, the problem of keeping track of inventory also got bigger. Punch cards, which were originally developed for the U. Census, offered a glimmer of hope for grocers. These accomplishments were the culmination of three long years of work by the grocery industry to create a Universal Product Code UPC that eventually would turn into the modern-day Point of Sale POS systems.
After a trial period, the benefits of using this type of barcode system included:. To really get a feel for what the future holds for barcodes and barcode readers, you need to look at how far this technology has really come. This type of data collection technology actually dates back to the 19th century, when the concept of collecting information through a machine was first discussed.
Other highlights in the brief history of barcodes and barcode scanners include:. In , about 20 years after the initial barcode scanners were introduced, it became apparent you would have limitations using them. The most significant was that a barcode scanner could only read the 20 alphanumeric characters a barcode could hold. Denso Wave Inc. Called Quick Response QR codes, they can be scanned digitally, most commonly by a smartphone.
It is made up of four squares, with the first three larger ones acting as alignment targets, while the smaller square normalizes the angle and size of the shot. The encoded data is interpreted by one of the four primary modes, although other forms of information can also be shown if your scanner has the appropriate extensions:.
As its technology evolved, QR scanners became able to read more information, including up to pixels square that held about 1, characters. Today, similar to the purpose of barcodes, QR codes are scanned in just about every possible situation, including online ticketing, inventory tracking, logistics and shipping. You can find them on fliers from bands who want you to watch their concerts online. Companies also use them to put Google Maps addresses and directions on business cards.
The year-old actress and queen of Found Fitness just showed off her sculpted abs in a teeny tiny bikini with metallic accents. And she's lookin' fierce! Want proof? See the star strip down for a celebratory photo. New York City store clerks teamed up to thwart a would-be robbery, beating the suspect to the ground with their fists in an incident that was captured by security cameras in the store.
Former 'Jeopardy! Kourtney Kardashian shared some topless pics that Travis Barker took on their engagement night—see the romantic photos here! Teresa took to Instagram to share a peek into her dreamy vacation with her husband-to-be. In the sweet snapshot posted on October 24, the couple can be seen posing alongside each other in front of a sparkling pool. While Luis donned a white bathing suit and a ba. Madsen had worked for the NFL for more than 20 years. The airline ceased operations, leaving thousands of workers unemployed and others with lower pay on a new carrier, union reps say.
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