A bar code automatically tells the life of a product without even saying a word. It is a set of geometric symbols that are interpreted by bar code scanners.

On this day, October 7th, in 1952, Joseph Woodland and Bernard Silver patented the method of identification of products known as the bar code. With an inquiry from a local store owner, Woodland and Silver decided to create a tool that could automatically read product information during checkout. A year later, these two inventors deciphered a way to make checking out at the register easier for the customers and retailers through identifying patterns.

Almost 30 years later, the bar code was implemented in supermarkets and one of the first items to be scanned was a pack of Wrigley’s gum.