6 ms·

The First Bar Code Was Round (2014)

49 points by benbreen 6y ago

reljac 6y ago
There is an interesting segment of the film "IBM Centennial Film: They Were There - People who changed the way the world works" that talks about the initial UPC process. (The entire video is worth watching, lots of good stories) https://youtu.be/p2KQiX57TT8?t=695 https://youtu.be/p2KQiX57TT8?t=695
- elteto 6y ago
  Wow, fantastic video, thanks for sharing! Seeing this video, I can't help but feel a bit sad for how far IBM slipped from its former days of glory :( And not only IBM, but also places like Xerox PARC and Bell Labs. We owe _so much_ of modern life to these places. And yet, whatever "secret sauce" each had seems to have been lost (at least to them, I don't doubt there are other similar places today, although I don't know them).
  - BurningFrog 6y ago
    I hope/assume there are similar places today. Nothing is forever and every institution has a lifespan. Though I couldn't tell you where the current ones are.
  - redtexture 6y ago
    Part of the sauce was high profits, and patent monopoly or actual monopoly power. Google and Microsoft are today's high profit equivalent, perhaps with or without the patent monopoly.
amelius 6y ago
Nowadays, barcodes come in a huge variety of shapes. Here's a nice collection: https://www.boredpanda.com/creative-barcode-designs https://www.boredpanda.com/creative-barcode-designs
- doc_gunthrop 6y ago
  Similar things have been done with QR codes as well.
griffinkelly 6y ago
Good article I read on this a while back: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/history-bar-code-180956704/ https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/history-bar-code-1...
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
agumonkey 6y ago
now we have qr-codes, nice lineage
gardaani 6y ago
Rumors say that Apple will be using circular QR codes [1]. Has anyone hacked those? [1] https://constine.substack.com/p/leaked-pics-from-apples-ar-app-gobi https://constine.substack.com/p/leaked-pics-from-apples-ar-a...
spdustin 6y ago
There's a very entertaining episode [0] of the "Stuff You Should Know" podcast that talks about the history of barcodes. [0]: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/105-stuff-you-should-know-26940277/episode/how-barcodes-work-45688037/ https://www.iheart.com/podcast/105-stuff-you-should-know-269...
dogline 6y ago
Even the article has you click through to the patent to see this round bar code so it "could be scanned from any angle." https://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/7c/8f/da/a94cbfbce1bd99/US2612994-drawings-page-1.png https://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/7c/8f/da/a94cbfb...
- asperous 6y ago
  Interestingly I think you could still use this design and it would work. Their rationale of less space and less ink makes sense though. These days retailers use Omni-Directional Scanners which can scan in all kinds of orientation by using spinning mirrors.
  - sp332 6y ago
    I think the original also has the downside that the scanner would have to go across the exact center of the circle to be able to read the code. With a rectangular one, any line from one side to the other will work so you don't have to be so accurate.
- Shorel 6y ago
  I guess this is so the Google overlords can know who reads what patent.
lostlogin 6y ago
I wonder what they would have been called if they had been round? Presumably not ‘barcodes’. The wiki says the bar is the varying thickness strips rather than the collection of them, so the name sort of works if they are circular. However calling round things a bar doesn’t seem right.
- tyingq 6y ago
  Ring codes? They look like tree rings.
todd8 6y ago
While working at IBM years ago, I participated in some of the suggestion programs that the company provided. Safety related suggestions that were adopted were rewarded with some fixed amount, perhaps it was $500 (I don't remember the exact amount). Suggestions that saved the company money were also rewarded. The reward was something like 10% of the company's first year savings. Suggestions that saved a couple of dollars on the packaging of PC could, for example, be worth quite a bit. The best suggestion I heard of was made by a co-worker (before I worked at IBM). He was the first to suggest that bar codes be used on IBM's ubiquitous inventory tags. Since everything in the company, like desks, monitors, keyboards, etc. had inventory tags it would have been a huge labor saving suggestion during the annual inventory of everything. Unfortunately, IBM didn't use the suggestion for a couple of years and according to the program's guidelines my friend wasn't eligible for a financial reward when the idea was actually adopted.
- perl4ever 6y ago
  I happened to read recently that the Romans stamped lead pipes with inscriptions so they could track, I guess, if a pipe was authorized or stealing water. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_lead_pipe_inscription https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_lead_pipe_inscription
dwighttk 6y ago
why did they not include a picture?
murkle 6y ago
This article actually has a picture of the round barcode https://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/13/business/n-joseph-woodland-inventor-of-the-bar-code-dies-at-91.html https://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/13/business/n-joseph-woodlan...

49 points by benbreen 6y ago

There is an interesting segment of the film "IBM Centennial Film: They Were There - People who changed the way the world works" that talks about the initial UPC process. (The entire video is worth watching, lots of good stories) https://youtu.be/p2KQiX57TT8?t=695 https://youtu.be/p2KQiX57TT8?t=695

elteto 6y ago
Wow, fantastic video, thanks for sharing! Seeing this video, I can't help but feel a bit sad for how far IBM slipped from its former days of glory :( And not only IBM, but also places like Xerox PARC and Bell Labs. We owe _so much_ of modern life to these places. And yet, whatever "secret sauce" each had seems to have been lost (at least to them, I don't doubt there are other similar places today, although I don't know them).
- BurningFrog 6y ago
  I hope/assume there are similar places today. Nothing is forever and every institution has a lifespan. Though I couldn't tell you where the current ones are.
- redtexture 6y ago
  Part of the sauce was high profits, and patent monopoly or actual monopoly power. Google and Microsoft are today's high profit equivalent, perhaps with or without the patent monopoly.

amelius 6y ago

Nowadays, barcodes come in a huge variety of shapes. Here's a nice collection: https://www.boredpanda.com/creative-barcode-designs https://www.boredpanda.com/creative-barcode-designs

doc_gunthrop 6y ago
Similar things have been done with QR codes as well.

griffinkelly 6y ago

Good article I read on this a while back: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/history-bar-code-180956704/ https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/history-bar-code-1...

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]

agumonkey 6y ago

now we have qr-codes, nice lineage

gardaani 6y ago

Rumors say that Apple will be using circular QR codes [1]. Has anyone hacked those? [1] https://constine.substack.com/p/leaked-pics-from-apples-ar-app-gobi https://constine.substack.com/p/leaked-pics-from-apples-ar-a...

spdustin 6y ago

There's a very entertaining episode [0] of the "Stuff You Should Know" podcast that talks about the history of barcodes. [0]: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/105-stuff-you-should-know-26940277/episode/how-barcodes-work-45688037/ https://www.iheart.com/podcast/105-stuff-you-should-know-269...

dogline 6y ago

Even the article has you click through to the patent to see this round bar code so it "could be scanned from any angle." https://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/7c/8f/da/a94cbfbce1bd99/US2612994-drawings-page-1.png https://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/7c/8f/da/a94cbfb...

asperous 6y ago
Interestingly I think you could still use this design and it would work. Their rationale of less space and less ink makes sense though. These days retailers use Omni-Directional Scanners which can scan in all kinds of orientation by using spinning mirrors.
- sp332 6y ago
  I think the original also has the downside that the scanner would have to go across the exact center of the circle to be able to read the code. With a rectangular one, any line from one side to the other will work so you don't have to be so accurate.
Shorel 6y ago
I guess this is so the Google overlords can know who reads what patent.

lostlogin 6y ago

I wonder what they would have been called if they had been round? Presumably not ‘barcodes’. The wiki says the bar is the varying thickness strips rather than the collection of them, so the name sort of works if they are circular. However calling round things a bar doesn’t seem right.

tyingq 6y ago
Ring codes? They look like tree rings.

todd8 6y ago

While working at IBM years ago, I participated in some of the suggestion programs that the company provided. Safety related suggestions that were adopted were rewarded with some fixed amount, perhaps it was $500 (I don't remember the exact amount). Suggestions that saved the company money were also rewarded. The reward was something like 10% of the company's first year savings. Suggestions that saved a couple of dollars on the packaging of PC could, for example, be worth quite a bit. The best suggestion I heard of was made by a co-worker (before I worked at IBM). He was the first to suggest that bar codes be used on IBM's ubiquitous inventory tags. Since everything in the company, like desks, monitors, keyboards, etc. had inventory tags it would have been a huge labor saving suggestion during the annual inventory of everything. Unfortunately, IBM didn't use the suggestion for a couple of years and according to the program's guidelines my friend wasn't eligible for a financial reward when the idea was actually adopted.

perl4ever 6y ago
I happened to read recently that the Romans stamped lead pipes with inscriptions so they could track, I guess, if a pipe was authorized or stealing water. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_lead_pipe_inscription https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_lead_pipe_inscription

dwighttk 6y ago

why did they not include a picture?

murkle 6y ago

This article actually has a picture of the round barcode https://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/13/business/n-joseph-woodland-inventor-of-the-bar-code-dies-at-91.html https://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/13/business/n-joseph-woodlan...