When were barcodes first introduced?

[Rik]

I know how they work and remember that libraries have been using them for as long as I can remember but how long have they actually been around?? cheers all, Rik

 

[Enquire]

Hello. The barcode as we know it was first used in 1974 on a packet of Wrigley’s Gum. Wallace Flint first had the idea in the 1930s and different types of bar codes were trialled in the 1940s-60s.

http://www.barcoding.com/information/barcode_history.shtml
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/google/6268827/Bar-code-invention-history-behind-new-Google-doodle.html
http://www.barcodesymbols.com/history.htm


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[Charles]

The very first scanning of the now ubiquitous Universal Product Code (UPC) barcode was on a pack of Wrigley Company chewing gum in June 1974.