AbstractA mechanism has been devised for the purpose of introducing a sudden strain of calculable amount into a viscoelastic fluid. The principle of the apparatus relies upon the deformation caused by the rotation of an elliptical sleeve about a flexible tube containing polymer solution. An apparatus has been constructed which can produce a 90° rotation (with consequent deformation) in the period of one millisecond. The detection of the strained state is accomplished by means of strain birefringence. In this way, relaxation can be studied in concentrated solutions for a time range beyond one millisecond