The Bradford system (also known as the English Worsted Yarn Count System or spinning count or Bradford count) is a way to assess the fineness of
wool
Wool is the textile fiber obtained from sheep and other mammals, especially goats, rabbits, and camelids. The term may also refer to inorganic materials, such as mineral wool and glass wool, that have some properties similar to animal w ...
.
To measure the fineness of sheep
wool
Wool is the textile fiber obtained from sheep and other mammals, especially goats, rabbits, and camelids. The term may also refer to inorganic materials, such as mineral wool and glass wool, that have some properties similar to animal w ...
fibre before microscopes and lasers were used, English wool handlers in the city of
Bradford
Bradford is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in West Yorkshire, England. It became a municipal borough in 1847, received a city charter in 1897 and, since the Local Government Act 1972, 1974 reform, the city status in the United Kingdo ...
described wool by estimating (with experienced eyes) how many hanks of single-strand yarn could be made by a good spinner from a
pound (0.45 kg) of "top" (cleaned combed wool with the fibres all parallel). The finer the wool, the more hanks could be spun: from a pound of "62s," for example, sixty-two such hanks could be made. Spinning counts range from about 32s for coarse carpet-wool to over 80s the finest wools.
The Bradford System is widely used among shepherds and breed associations. In 1968, the United States Department of Agriculture issued official standards (for the U.S. only, not applicable worldwide) which assigned ranges of average fibre diameter (AFD) and maximum standard deviation to each of the Bradford counts. For example, wool with average fibre diameter in micrometres from 28.60 to 30.09 was to be called "54s."
References
{{reflist, refs=
[Rodney Kott (1993).]
Wool Grading
Bozeman, Montana: Montana State University.
Wool industry