26—the “handle” of cloth as a measurable quantity

TLDR: In this article, an instrument is described on which it is possible to measure the angle through which a specimen of cloth droops when a definite length is held out over an edge.

Abstract: In judging the feel or “handle” of a material, use is made of such sensations as stiffness or limpness, hardness or softness, and roughness or smoothness. It is desirable to devise physical tests that analyse and reflect the sensations felt and assign numerical values to the measurements. The present paper describes tests that reflect the first groups of sensations, namely, stiffness and hardness, whilst the sensation that is experienced in stroking a material, obviously connected with frictional properties, will be dealt with in another paper. An instrument is described on which it is possible to measure the angle through which a specimen of cloth droops when a definite length is held out over an edge. By means of a mathematical formula that is fully developed in an appendix to the paper this angle is converted into a term called the bending length of the material. This quantity may be defined as the length of fabric that will bend under its own weight to a definite extent. It is strictly a meas...