The measurement of the lengths of all kinds of textile materials by me
ans of machines poses many problems to industry. The mechanical pick-r
tp method still commonly used to determine the lengths of fabrics lead
s to considerable measurement errors due to slip and the action of for
ces. These errors can be clearly reduced by application of the non-con
tact laser Doppler technique. The paper reports on the first practical
rise of a laser Doppler length measuring instrument in measuring mach
ines for textiles. The structure of the instrument and the measurement
results obtained are presented and discussed.