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Bernard Silver

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description Bernard Silver Overview

Bernard Silver was an American inventor who co-created an early barcode system with Norman Woodland. While studying at the Drexel Institute of Technology, Silver became involved in developing a method for automatically identifying products. Woodland and Silver received United States Patent 2,612,994 in 1952 for a system using machine-readable patterns. Their work supplied an important technical foundation for later retail scanning and product-identification systems.

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What was Bernard Silver's role in the invention of the barcode?

Bernard Silver co-invented the early barcode system with Norman Woodland. Their United States patent was granted in 1952 for a machine-readable way to identify products.

What inspired Bernard Silver and Norman Woodland to develop a barcode?

A supermarket executive asked for a faster method of capturing product information at checkout. Silver and Woodland turned that practical retail problem into a scanning system based on patterns of lines or circles.

Was Bernard Silver alive when barcode scanning became common?

Silver died in 1963, before barcode scanners became standard in supermarkets. The retail system that eventually became the UPC was developed and adopted after his original patent work.

What was the first product scanned with a retail barcode?

The first UPC retail scan took place in 1974 at a Marsh supermarket in Troy, Ohio. The product was a pack of Wrigley's Juicy Fruit chewing gum, making it a landmark in the history of Silver's invention.

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