Do you know anything about the invention of the bar code(条形码)?
A small food store owner found it was difficult to keep records of the product information. In 1948; he contacted the Drexel Institute of Technology to solve this problem. Bernard Silver was interested in it and he set out tolook intoit. Silver and his students realized their answer in the form of ultraviolet light(紫外线)，ink and a scanner(扫描仪).
The system did work at first, but it's very expensive and sometimes the system didn't work well. If the invention was to become popular in grocery stores, the problems had to be solved. Finally, Silver solved them.
The patent (专利权) for the bar code system was asked by Silver and Woodland in 1949. But the patent was not given until 1952. Although this patent was given, the system was still not popular among store owners. In 1966, the system began moving its way into more grocery stores. Logicorn developed the Universal Grocery Products Identification Number (普遍标识号) in 1970. Marsh's superstore in Troy was the first store to set up this bar code reading system. It became very popular ever since, and now it's obviously popular in all types of stores worldwide.
