How many years were X-ray machines accessible in shoe stores in the United States?

This is a shoe-fitting fluoroscope, also sold under the names X-ray Shoe Fitter, Pedoscope and Foot-O-Scope, and was installed in shoe stores from the 1920s until about the 1970s in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, South Africa, Germany and Switzerland. There was a platform to step up on and an opening to insert the feet. There were eye ports for the customer to observe, the salesman, and a parent. The selling point was to see if the toes were cramped in the shoe toe-box. It was free to shoppers, harmless, fun and novel.

However, the unregulated radiation exposure put countless customers and clerks at risk for ailments including dermatitis, cataracts, and, with prolonged exposure, cancer. A typical fitting lasted 20 seconds, and of course some customers would have several fittings before settling on just the right pair. A 1948 study of 43 machines in Detroit showed exposure ranges from 16 to 75 Roentgens per minute. In 1946, the American Standards Association had issued a safety code for industrial use of X-rays, limiting exposure to 0.1 R per day. By the 1950's the machines were being removed, but there were still 17 states in the 1970's still permitting their use.

The shoe-fitting fluoroscope is a curious technology. It seemed scientific but it wasn’t. Its makers claimed it wasn’t dangerous, but it was. In the end, it proved utterly superfluous—a competent salesperson could fit a shoe just as easily and with less fuss.