Film Filing—The Modern Way

Abstract

The storage of x-ray films has always been a problem in the average x-ray laboratory because of the cost of files and the lack of space to preserve the films adequately. The increasing use of x-ray facilities, and the accepted practice of storing films for from two to five years, or longer, has served to make the problem more acute. The Bureau of Tuberculosis of the New Vork City Department of Health operates 22 chest clinics, and in the past seven years over onehalf million roentgenograms have been taken employing both celluloid and paper films. Our filing problem is, therefore, obvious. At first, three-drawer x-ray film files, which hold 2,000 films in envelopes, were used. These had several disadvantages, the most important being that it was impossible to provide space for the additional files required yearly in each clinic. In fact, in many instances it was necessary to discard old films to make room for current work. In 1935, the Department started using steel shelving instead of three-drawer files. ...