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The Dangers of Shoe-Fitting Fluoroscopes

But there were untold dangers in this common practice. Not only were the customers’ feet subjected to unshielded radiation, but the beam’s scatter rays would travel up their legs to other parts of their bodies. While customers were warned to limit themselves to 12 exposures per year, shoe store clerks were subject to repeated exposures — every single day. In the late 1950s, Americans started making the connection between fluoroscopes and dermatitis and cancer. The machines were banned in the 1970s. It’s not clear how many people experienced a negative effect from these incredibly dangerous devices, but with the evolution of research and advancements in technology, it’s no longer acceptable to…

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 The Rise and Fall of Shoe Fitting Fluoroscopes

The X-ray shoe fitter quickly became a fixture in American shoe stores, taking advantage of several developing social trends. By continuing to celebrate the amazing properties of X-rays and radium, popular magazines and newspapers of the 1920s reinforced the notion that the devices were modern, scientific, and infallible.

 When Shoes Were Fit with X-Rays

Fluoroscopes were used in shoe stores from the mid-1920s to 1950s in North America and Europe — even though the radiation risks of x-rays were well-known.

Articles of Interest

The Era of the Shoe-Fitting Fluoroscope and the Radiation It Caused

Devices that emitted a significant amount of radiation were common fixtures in shoe stores around the world until the 1970s.

The shoe-fitting fluoroscope as a radiation hazard

Tests of direct beam intensity and stray radiation from shoe-fitting fluoroscopes indicate wide variability of exposure of patrons and salesmen, with some exposures far in excess of standards proposed for safe use of the apparatus. The principal potential danger is interference with bone growth in children as a result of careless use or uncontrolled dosage of x-ray. Although less likely, there is also some possibility of excessive exposure of shoe salesmen in exceptional circumstances. The growing probability of increasing use of ionizing radiations warrants vigorous governmental control or possibly elimination of procedures of questionable merit which involve public risk.

After World War I, people used X-rays to try on shoes.

here’s a reason we typically receive X-rays only in a medical setting: Without the proper precautions, radiation is extremely dangerous. But for several decades following the discovery of X-rays in 1895, most people didn’t think twice about sticking their feet inside unregulated X-ray machines at the shoe store. Shoe-fitting fluoroscopes, which show moving images in real time, were developed during World War I to examine injured soldiers’ feet without removing their boots. After the war, they were adapted for commercial use to help fit people for shoes, and they became staples at shoe stores in many countries, including the United States.

Baring the sole. The rise and fall of the shoe-fitting fluoroscope

One of the most conspicuous nonmedical uses of the x-ray was the shoe-fitting fluoroscope. It allowed visualization of the bones and soft tissues of the foot inside a shoe, purportedly increasing the accuracy of shoe fitting and thereby enhancing sales. From the mid 1920s to the 1950s, shoe-fitting fluoroscopes were a prominent feature of shoe stores in North America and Europe.

How X-ray shoe fittings used to really be a thing years ago

Back in the 1920s, footwear manufacturers and merchants decided that X-ray shoe fittings could bring in lots of customers — people who would be thrilled to let a recent scientific advance help them find the perfect shoe. And that’s why the shoe-fitting fluoroscope — basically a specialized X-Ray machine — was at the core of a very popular marketing scheme that sold lots of footwear… up until the dangers of radiation were better understood and the devices were eventually removed from stores.

Shoe-Fitting Fluoroscope: Scientific Advancement or Sales Tactic?

In the early days of fluoroscopy, they were primarily used in hospitals or as novelties. In 1919, Jacob Lowe, owner of a Boston-based X-ray laboratory, filed a patent for the first fluoroscope explicitly for fitting shoes. Lowe saw the problem of ill-fitted shoes causing discomfort in the short term and foot deformities in the long term; his machine would allow the customers to see their feet inside of their shoes and would presumably prevent future issues.

The Long and (Sometimes) Strange History of Footwear Fitting

In the 1930s, Adrian became the major manufacturer of the X-ray shoe-fitting machines or fluoroscopes. They became a fixture in American shoe stores from the 1930s through the 1950s. Customers would slip their feet with shoes still on in the openings at the bottom of a wood cabinet. X-rays produced a fluorescent image of the bones of the feet. Viewing portals at the top of the unit allowed the customer and salesperson to view the images. Some units allowed salesmen to adjust the settings and intensity of the fluorescent image. Once the dangers of unhealthy exposure to radiation became known and safety standards emerged in the 1950s, the X-ray shoe-fitting machines declined in popularity and were eventually banned. Health risks especially to salespeople exposed to multiple customer scans per day and unshielded radiation from leaky wooden units were especially acute.

The Shoe-Fitting Fluoroscope

The impact of the shoe-fitting fluoroscopes on the health of their users is not really known. While it is known that radiation is a significant carcinogen, there do not appear to have been any long-term studies about how these machines have affected the cancer rates of users or otherwise adversely affected them, and such a study would be very difficult to control properly.

The shoe-fitting fluoroscope: a little known application of the X-ray

Since its discovery in 1895, the X-ray has provided multiple uses in the fields of medicine, dentistry, security and even shopping.

Vintage Shoe-Fitting X-Ray Machines Will Zap Your Feet

How do you tell if a shoe is a good fit? Take a short walk? Squeeze the front-end with your fingers to make sure there is space for your toes? What about a dangerous, 20-second blast of unshielded x-rays? If you were buying shoes in the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s, it’s likely that you regularly […]

X-Ray Shoe-Fitting Machine

The X-ray shoe-fitting machine (fluoroscope) was a common fixture in American shoe stores during the 1930s-50s. In ads, the machines were touted as a new way to check the fit of a shoe. This was thought to “guarantee” that the shoes would be comfortable. Children’s shoes were said to last longer because the fit could be more exact.