Liberal Arts Blog — Morse Code Was The Inspiration For The Idea Of The Bar Code On Miami Beach In 1949
Liberal Arts Blog — Wednesday is the Joy of Science, Engineering, and Technology Day
Today’s Topic — Morse Code Was the Inspiration for the Idea of the Bar Code on Miami Beach in 1949
The patent was filed for in 1949 and granted in 1952 but the first item was not scanned until June 26, 1969.
That was a package of Wrigley’s Juicy Fruit chewing gum at a checkout line of the Marsh Supermarket in Troy, Ohio.
“Though the inspiration for the bar code was the plea by supermarkets for technology that would speed up the checkout, its greatest value to business and industry is that it has provided hard, statistical evidence for what sells and what does not. It has transformed market research, providing a rich picture of people’s tastes, and it has made production lines more efficient. The once-dreaded “death ray” laser beam now comes in handy gun-sized scanners that instantly read and log anything from hospital drugs to newborn babies.”
What do you know about the evolution of scanning technology from the Bar Code to the UPC Code to the QR Code that the rest of us would delight to learn?
What use of the QR Code has brought you the most joy? Finding your way in Central Park? Learning more about a painting in an art gallery?
Experts — please chime in. Correct, elaborate, elucidate.
THE BULL’S-EYE-STYLE CODE — JOE WOODLAND AND BERNARD SILVER, BOTH GRADUATE STUDENTS AT THE DREXEL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, FILE FOR PATENT IN 1949 AND GET IT IN 1952 BUT IT TAKES 20 YEARS TO GET A FUNCTIONAL ONE.
1. “I remember I was thinking about dots and dashes when I poked my four fingers into the sand and, for whatever reason- I didn’t know — I pulled my hand toward me and I had four lines”
2. “I said ‘Golly! Now I have four lines and they could be wide lines and narrow lines, instead of dots and dashes. Now I have a better chance of finding the doggone thing.”
3. “Then, only seconds later, I took my four fingers — they were still in the sand — and I swept them round into a circle.”
THE UPC CODE — THE “FATHER OF THE BAR CODE” IS GEORGE LAURER (1925–2019) WHO WORKED AT IBM FOR 36 YEARS AND HELD 28 PATENTS
1. “Initially, IBM envisioned a circular bullseye pattern as proposed by Joe Woodland in 1940s. Laurer realized that the pattern was ineffective because of smearing during printing. Instead, he designed a vertical pattern of stripes which he proposed to his superior in 1971 or 1972.”
2. “This change was accepted by IBM management and Laurer then worked with Woodland and mathematician David Savir to develop and refine the details. These included the addition check digit to provide error correction. In 1973, the IBM proposal was accepted by the Symbol Selection committee of the Uniform Grocery Product Code Council, a consortium of grocery store companies.”
THE QR CODE — 1994 DEVELOPED FOR AUTO PARTS BY MASAHIRO HARA AND TAKAYUKI NAGAYA OF THE DENSO WAVE CORPORATION OF JAPAN
1. “Whereas a barcode is a machine-readable optical image that contains information specific to the labeled item, the QR code contains the data for a locator, an identifier, and web-tracking.”
2. “To store data efficiently, QR codes use four standardized modes of encoding: numeric, alphanumeric, byte or binary, and kanji.”
3. “QR codes may be used to display text to the user, to open a webpate on the user’s device, to add a vCard contact to the user’s device, to open a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI), to connect to a wireless network, or to compose an email or text message.”
NB: The inspiration for Masahiro Hara was the board game Go.
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/history-bar-code-180956704/
Universal Product Code — Wikipedia
A Brief History of the Barcode
Norman Joseph Woodland — Wikipedia
QUOTE OF THE MONTH
“Make your own Bible. Select and collect all the words and sentences that in all your readings have been to you like the blast of a trumpet.”
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
My spin — then periodically review, re-rank, and exchange your list with those you love. I call this the “Orion Exchange” because seven is about as many as any human can digest at a time. Game?
A LINK TO THE LAST FOUR YEARS OF POSTS ORGANIZED BY THEME:
PDF with headlines — Google Drive
ATTACHMENT BELOW:
#1 A graphic guide to justice (9 metaphors on one page).
#2 “39 Songs, Prayers, and Poems: the Keys to the Hearts of Seven Billion People” — Adams House Senior Common Room Presentation, (11/17/20)
NB: Palestine Orion (Decision) — let’s exchange Orions, let’s find Rumi’s field (“Beyond all ideas of right and wrong, there is a field. Meet me there” Rumi, 13 century Persian Sufi mystic)
YOUR TURN
Please share the coolest thing you learned this week related to science, engineering, or technology.
Or, even better, the coolest or most important thing you learned in your life related to science and engineering.
This is your chance to make someone else’s day. Or to cement in your mind something that you might otherwise forget. Or to think more deeply about something dear to your heart. Continuity is key to depth of thought.
