Interesting. In my opinion this is one of those situations where the inch term can still be used even if the US was totally metric. Nothing wrong with calling an album a 12 inch. (Technically the 33 is a 33 1/2 rpm album...)
Speaking of that, the Ice-T song "I'm your pusher" had a little dialogue in which a supposed drug user is asking Ict-T for some drugs and Ice-T responds, "I can hook you up with a twelve inch."
I do agree with you Jerry that mostly in the US we say 45s and LPs vs the size. However, there are many instances (usually corner cases) where inches were used.
I remember back in the day, during my hardcore punk listening days, bands would "cut a 7 inch". At the same time, you'd get special remixes usually on a "12 inch". I still have a handful of 7 inch records cut by small indie bands....and also a full 12" extended mix of Michael Jackson's Billie Jean.
.....and lots of times when these extended mixes would be released on CDs, they'd be refered to as 12" extended mix. I have quite a few Depeche Mode special issues with these references, although to be fair, mostly they were reissues containing UK dance hall remixes or were UK imports to begin with.
With regards to your measurements though, lots of my vinyl is of different construction. Some are very thick, heavy, and brittle. Others are thin, floppy and seem to be able to be bent strongly without cracking. Looking at and holding these albums, they have slightly different lip edges which could easily account for 3mm.
I'd be curious to take a larger measurement sampling. But considering the LP (the 33 1/2 rpm album, 12 inch) was designed by an American company, I don't doubt it was designed to inches.
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [USMA:44320] Records
From: Jeremiah MacGregor <jeremiahmacgre...@rocketmail.com>
Date: Fri, April 03, 2009 8:38 pm
To: "U.S. Metric Association" <usma@colostate.edu>
It seems the 45 min^-1 record is 60 years old.This is one of those remnants that extremists get excited over because the record mentioned is called by an inch name, even though it is incorrect.In the US we never called records by their inch size. We always called them by their speed.We had the 45 min^-1 singles, 33-1/3 long playing and the older 78 min^-1. Everyone knows them simply as 45s, 33s and 78s. Never anthing else.Yet extremists falsely claim these to be inch based because they were falsely given inch names.I happen to have a sample of all three record types and I can honestly state that none are to the measurements the extremists drool over.My 45s are 175 mm. 7 inches is 178 mm. Thus the records are 3 mm shorter then their inch name claim.My 33s are 302 mm. 12 inches is 305 mm.. Thus the records are 3 mm shorter then their inch name claim.My 78s are 250 mm. 10 inches is 254 mm. Thus the records are 4 mm shorter then their inch name claim.I believe that outside the US 33s are 300 mm exactly. Some of you on this list who do not come from the US may be able to check their record collection and verify the diameters.The 17.5 cm disc was originally designed by Emile Berliner of Germany and he chose the metric size as standard and the inch sizes were the closes the English could come up with, but even with inch names they never changed the sizes Berliner chose to the rounded inch sizes they named them.Berliner arranged for the first gramophones to be made in Europe during the trip to Germany 1889-90. According to Raymond Wile, "It was in Germany that the first commercial beginnings of the gramophone occurred - presumably in July 1890. The toy makers Kammer and Reinhardt in Waltershausen (Thuringia) began to market small hand-propelled gramophones and a talking-doll. For the doll, a small 8 centimeter disc was prepared, and for the regular machine a 12.5 centimeter disc. The records were available in three substances during the period they were marketed. Without adequate documentation it is impossible to determine if the copies made in hard rubber or celluloid were contemporaneous, or which substances had precedence. For an additional price, zinc discs also were available. The records were produced by two companies, one known solely by the initials GFKC, the other was the Rhenische Gummi und Celluloid Fabrik Werkes of Necharan, Mannheim. The machines and records also were imported into England, notably by J. Lewis Young, but were available for only a few years in both countries" (Wile 1990 p. 16). As a result, Berliner's efforts led to the establishment of Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft (DGG, later to become PolyGram).Thus despite the corrupted names, vinly records are a true metric invention.Jerry
