Kimball tag

[1] A Kimball tag was an early form of stock control label that, like its later successor the barcode, supported back office data processing functions.

Sears, Roebuck & Company sponsored the development of a specialized punched card system to track garment inventory, produce timely management reports, and reduce clerical errors.

[2] The A. Kimball Company, an established price tag manufacturer in New York City, and the Karl J. Braun Engineering Company of Stamford, Connecticut developed the garment tags and the machine that marked and punched them.

The Potter Instrument Company of Great Neck, New York developed a photoelectric tag reader for the 1952 pilot system.

A lens system enlarged the image of a tag's holes projected by a gas-type photoflash tube onto an array of phototubes.

A Kimball tag pinned to a package of thermal underwear sold by Alexander's department store.
A Kimball tag pinned to a package of thermal underwear sold by Alexander's department store .
Coded hang tag from 1970.