This Simplex X-Ray Shoe Fitter made it possible to see the bones of the foot inside a shoe. It would show any deformation or misplacement of the bones for correctly fitted shoes.
It is believed that Dr. Jacob J. Lowe, a Boston physician, invented the device during World War II to accommodate the large number of soldiers needing correctly fitted shoes for their foot injuries.
It was used in stores into the 1950s before being banned due to the harmful radiation it produced.
The top photo simulates what it was like to stand on the platform in front of the machine and see your own foot’s skeletal structure. The other ports are for the salesperson and another person to look through. The platform you stood on was only protected from the X-ray tube by an aluminum filter. We found this machine in the Fort Missoula museum in Missoula, Montana.
