QUESTIONS pertaining to history and trivia associated with the U.P.C.
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Section 4 Question #1 - Who invented EAN Symbol and how does it differ from the US version? 9/30/98
Answer- I was given the requirements for the EAN version of the U.P.C. . The requirements included an extra digit. I used 90% of the resources of Version E1 to create the EAN symbol and Version E1 ceased to exist. (Later I used the remaining 10% to create Version D.) My design was then delivered to Europe. The basic U.P.C. (Version A) has 12 digits, they are: 10 data digits, 1 system number digit, and one check digit. The EAN symbol contains 13 digits. The additional digit is used as the "country flag" (Flag 0 is implied for Version A and is the US flag).
![[gum]](wrigum.gif)
Section 4 Question #2 - What product was the first to carry the U.P.C. bar code? 10/17/98
Answer- I doubt if anyone can answer that. The first five digits, following the "System Number", are the manufacturer number assigned by the Uniform Code Council (UCC) and the next five digits are the product number assigned by the manufacturer. While the UCC may be able to tell you which manufacturer received the first number, I doubt if anyone can tell you which manufacture got their product to market first.
It is however, generally accepted that a Marsh's Supermarket in Troy. OH was the first to install scanning equipment in 1974. A 10-pack of Wrigley's gum was scanned and sold June 26, 1974 at 8:01 AM.
The picture to the right was taken at the Smithsonian American History Museum in Washington, DC June 2000. The price on the package indicates $1.39, however other sources have told me the price was 67 cents.
According to an article in The Baltimoe Sun newspaper (2004) , Sharon Buchanan who was 31 at the time, was the cashier at Mark's that scanned the first item.
The system at Marsh's was an NCR system.
Section 4 Question #3 - Who was the first person to invent and use an optically read bar code? What year was it? 2/11/99
Answer- The earliest patent application I am aware of was filed November 30, 1930 (#493,568) by the joint inventors John Kernmode, Douglas Young, and Harry Sparkes. It took several years to convince the patent office that scanning the bar code optically was different from the Hollerith patents which taught the reading of holes. Patent #1,985,035 embodying single width bars was issued December 18, 1933. Mr. Young made improvements to the scanner and code and filed for a new patent June 2, 1933. It included the first multi-width symbology for optically read bar codes. Patent #2,020,925 was issued November 12, 1935. Both patents were assigned to Westinghouse Electric Co. You can find a more detailed and an interesting account in Benjamin Nelson's book, Punched Cards to Bar Codes published 1997.
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Revised: October 2001