He pulled out a drawer and selected a wooden handled letter opener with gold inlay.
The lap is taken to the filling engine, which is similar in construction and appearance to the opener as far as the feeding arrangements are concerned, but the drum, in place of being entirely covered with fine steel teeth, is spaced at intervals of from 5 to to in.
Some kinds are made close and dense in texture, for carrying such seed as poppy or rape and sugar; others less close are used for rice, pulses, and seeds of like size, and coarser and opener kinds again are woven for the outer cover of packages and for the sails of country boats.
De Wette has been described by Julius Wellhausen as "the epoch-making opener of the historical criticism of the Pentateuch."
The more general practice, however, is to employ what is termed a "bale opener," or "jute crusher."