Barcode

Transcription:

John Weber: I'm John Weber and this is your WHYY Philly Phun Phact. There probably isn't a grocery store in America that doesn't use a scanning device at checkout, but did you know that the barcode had its genesis right here in Philadelphia? Philly tour guide Jim Murphy, author of Real Philly History Real Fast tells us...

Jim Murphy: "In 1948, a grocery store owner in Philadelphia posed a simple yet powerful question: Could there be a way to automate checkout and track inventory?"

John Weber: That spark of curiosity reached two engineers, Bernard Silver and Norman Joseph Woodland at Drexel Institute of Technology.

Jim Murphy: Woodland, inspired by Morse code, drew some lines with his finger in the sand at the beach. Those lines would evolve into the modern barcode. After years of refining the idea, the first patent was granted in 1952.

John Weber: The barcode would go on to revolutionize retail manufacturing and logistics worldwide. I'm John Weber and that's your WHYY Philly Phun Phact.