Pedoscope

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Pedoscope from the 1930s by Ernst Gross Röntgen-Apparate, Berlin, in the Salzburg Physics Museum

Pedoscopes (from Latin pes, pedis "foot" and Greek skopéin , "to look at"), another name for shoe fluoroscopes , were X-ray machines for checking the fit of shoes . Around 1920, such devices were developed independently in the United States and Great Britain. There is evidence of an early patent application in 1919 and the demonstration of a shoe fluoroscope in 1920 at a shoe retailer fair in Boston . The American doctor Jacob Lowe had applied for the patent and transferred it to the Adrian X-Ray Company in Milwaukee , which marketed it under the name "Foot-O-Scope". At around the same time, the Pedoscope Company of St Albans , UK, patented and marketed a similar device called the "Pedoscope" which is now used generically. The Swiss shoe manufacturer Bally sold them in continental Europe. Up to the 1950s, around 10,000 devices were installed in the USA, around 3,000 in Great Britain, around 1,000 in Canada and around 1,500 in Switzerland and southern Germany.

The pedoscopes used in the shoe shops were used to promote sales, particularly with a view to buying shoes for children. The devices were therefore mostly equipped with three eyepieces so that parents and sales staff could check the fit of the shoes with the child at the same time. On the one hand, health arguments were used to promote the accuracy of fit that could be guaranteed by using these devices. Second, in times of economic hardship, it was important for many parents to make sure that the shoes they bought for their children fit. In some cases, shoe stores also advertised that you could check free of charge whether shoes that you have worn still fit. Customers and sales staff were exposed to the X-rays in an uncontrolled manner.

The devices were in shoe stores until the 1960s, although medical knowledge about the health risks was available very early after the discovery of X-rays and the use of pedoscopes was criticized in specialist circles. A regional study by the Detroit Labor Inspectorate in 1948 found that the devices delivered 30–40 r / min (in current units 4–6 mGy / s). The daily dose to employees via scattered radiation was estimated to be 0.1 R (0.9 mGy). Other studies have found even higher doses, especially dangerous for long-time shoe sellers. A case of a severe burn and amputation in a shoe presenter was published in 1950. In 1946, the American Standards Association limited the dose of radiation from pedoscopes in its safety guidelines, and around the same time American medical societies and health authorities issued warnings. Operation bans followed much later, however, in Germany with the 1973 X-ray Ordinance. In Switzerland, a device was still in operation in 1989.

Today so-called podoscopes are used for foot diagnostics.

literature

Web links

Wiktionary: Pedoskop  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations
Commons : Pedoskop  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Sources and individual references

  1. ↑ Patent US1614988 : Method and means for visually determining the fit of footwear. Filed February 6, 1919 , published January 18, 1927 , inventor: Jacob J. Lowe. ‌
  2. ^ Jacalyn Duffin, Charles RR Hayter: Baring the sole. The rise and fall of the shoe-fitting fluoroscope In: Isis 2000 Jun 91 (2): 261f.
  3. ↑ H. Bavley: Shoe-fitting with x-ray. National Safety News, 62 (1950), pp. 106-111
  4. ↑ E. Müller-Schärer (1989): A contribution to the history of radiation protection in Switzerland. P. 9. (accessed December 21, 2017)