Unusual types of gramophone records Unusual types of gramophone records The overwhelming majority of records manufactured have been of certain sizes (7, 10, or 12 inches), playback speeds (33, 45, or 78 RPM), and appearance (round black discs). However, since the commercial adoption of the gramophone record (called a phonograph record in the U.S., where both cylinder records and disc records were invented), a wide variety of records have also been produced that do not fall into these categories, and they have served a variety of purposes. The most common diameter sizes for gramophone records are 12-inch, 10-inch, and 7-inch. Early American shellac records were
Gear inches Gear inches Gear inches is one of several relative measures of bicycle gearing, giving an indication of the mechanical advantage of different gears. Values for 'gear inches' typically range from 20 (very low gearing) via 70 (medium gearing) to 125 (very high gearing); as in a car, low gearing is for going up hills and high gearing is for going fast. 'Gear inches' is actually the diameter in inches of the drive wheel of a penny-farthing bicycle with equivalent gearing. When the high wheeler or penny-farthing was the "ordinary" bicycle form, the comparative diameter in inches of the driven wheel