A novel technique for the measurement of liquid viscosity is presented. In this technique, a disk was driven by a constant speed dc shunt motor in the test liquid. The change in the motor current measured the viscosity. The change in motor current was measured using an instrumentation amplifier and the viscosity of the liquid was measured in terms of output voltage. The temperature of the liquid was controlled using a peltier cooler/heater and was measured using an AD590 two-terminal integrated circuit temperature sensor. The viscosity of vegetable oils (groundnut, palm, sunflower, coconut) in the temperature range from 20 degrees C to 60 degrees C were determined. The results thus found were similar to the results obtained from a Redwood viscometer. This technique is useful to measure viscosity of liquids. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.