".... 54t outer chain ring ....(and),,,, also have a Super Record 49t outer ring marked the same way............ What are these rings intended for?"
If the 54 T record outer was new enough to have the fatter lettering, I would expect it to have the pin. IIRC the pin showed up back when the skinnier letters were still used. (For sure the pin was around before the Patent to Brev change.) So, it may be Pista, but isn't N.G.S another possibility? I think the 144 bcd NGS rings never had a pin. The finish wasn't as nicely polished either.
On the SR, I'm pretty sure that the earliest SRs were marked Patent with the fat lettering and all the outers had pins. Here's da thing.... what makes a 49t an inner or outer? Was there a distinction in the catalog? Could it be that rings below a certain size, a size that would make them "undoubtedly" an outer ring (say 50t) might have come without the pin so that they could be used as an inner or an outer? A 49 could be used as an inner ring (with, say, a 53 or larger outer) if you were into half step gearing, for example.
Tom Dalton Bethlehem PA, USA
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