back when I was younger (to quote SLF) I used to get my shoes in a very large shoe store in Talbot Street Dublin 1. The realy cool thing for a 5 year old was the shoe-fitting x-ray machine. Climb up 3 rubber coated steps, insert your right foot and left in two holes on the thread of the third step, and peer in through one of the three looking ports and grey on green I could see the bones in my toes wiggling inside my new shoes. The shop assistant and my mother used the other two ports to view and they would discuss how long the shoes would give me, or to put it another way how much growing time was in them. The shoes were usually brown buckle straps with a grey rubber sole, bud ugly and to make things worse, I needed to ware them on the wrong feet, right shoe on left etc. something about inner raised but it was 1975 and I cant remember.
In the late 1940’s and early 1950’s, the shoe-fitting x-ray unit was a common shoe store sales promotion device and nearly all stores had one. It was estimated that there were 10,000 of these devices in use. This particular shoe-fitting x-ray unit was produced by the dominant company in the field, the Adrian X-Ray Company of Milwaukee WI, now defunct. Brooks Stevens, a noted industrial designer whose works included the the Milwaukee Road Olympian and an Oscar Meyer Wienermobile, designed this machine. ..
The radiation hazards associated with shoe fitting x-ray units were recognized as early as 1950. The machines were often out of adjustment and were constructed so radiation leaked into the surrounding area.
By 1970, shoe fitting x-ray units had been banned in 33 states including Minnesota and strict regulation in the remaining 17 states made their operation impractical.
Back when I was younger – everyone had mobile phones….