RCA Automated Supermarket Checkstand

RCA Automated Supermarket Checkstand

<< >>
Usage conditions apply
Downloads
Description
By the late 1960s, minicomputers were sufficiently cheap to envision using them to automate much of the pricing and sale of groceries. RCA Corporation, working in conjunction with Kroger Company, developed a supermarket checkstand that linked to an RCA 6100 minicomputer. This is an example of the checkstand. It first operated at a Kroger’s store in Kenwood, Ohio, near Cincinnati, in July, 1972. The tests were quite successful, running for many weeks. However, the device relied on a different identification code than the Universal Product Code adopted the following year. RCA decided not to try to sell point-of-sale terminals.
Reference:
Stephen A. Brown, Revolution at the Checkout Counter:The Explosion of the Bar Code, Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1997.
Location
Currently not on view
Object Name
minicomputer peripheral
date made
1970-1972
maker
RCA Corporation
Physical Description
metal (overall material)
plastic (overall material)
glass (overall material)
rubber (overall material)
Measurements
overall: 4 ft x 14 ft; 1.2192 m x 4.2672 m
ID Number
1974.309503.01
catalog number
309503.01
accession number
309503
Credit Line
Gift of Sperry-Univac Computer Systems
See more items in
Medicine and Science: Computers
Food
Computers & Business Machines
Cash and Credit Registers
Data Source
National Museum of American History
Nominate this object for photography.   

Our collection database is a work in progress. We may update this record based on further research and review. Learn more about our approach to sharing our collection online.

If you would like to know how you can use content on this page, see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use. If you need to request an image for publication or other use, please visit Rights and Reproductions.

Note: Comment submission is temporarily unavailable while we make improvements to the site. We apologize for the interruption. If you have a question relating to the museum's collections, please first check our Collections FAQ. If you require a personal response, please use our Contact page.