Shoe

An old slipper, with the back part of the “upper” cut away; it is nailed through the heel, and hung at the end of the frame, so that the compositor, when he comes across a battered or broken letter, may put it in there. When the shoe becomes full it is emptied into a large box, called the “batter-box,” in which the old metal is kept till returned to the founder to be remelted and made into new type.