Barcode, the distinctive black-and-white stripes that provide details relating to an object you purchase, turned 60 on October 7.
The barcode patent filed in the US in 1952, however, did not make its first appearance in an American shop until 1974; reason being the unavailability of the laser technology required to read them. The first item to be scanned by a barcode was a packet of chewing gum in an Ohio supermarket in 1974.
Today, there are more than five million individual barcodes in use around the world.
