a storage phosphor cassette for use in recording radiographic images of elongated objects . the cassette comprises a shell and a single storage phosphor plate . the shell includes first and second opposite open ends . the single storage phosphor plate is housed within the shell and is adapted to be at least partially removable from the shell through the first and second open ends . a radiation image of the elongate object can be read by extracting a first portion of the single plate through one of the two opposing ends of the cassette and scanning the first portion of the single storage phosphor plate to obtain a first partial image , and then extracting a second portion of the single plate through the other of the two opposing ends of the cassette and scanning the second portion of the single storage phosphor plate to obtain a second partial image . the first and second partial images can be combined to form the image of the elongate object .