Linda and Steve, thanks for the information and that video is a really good intro to these machines. Amazingly quiet and so simple to operate, even at the end of a chain where you cut the tail on top. I'm interested in the automatic tensioner and am wondering how it adjusts automatically. I assume there's a vertical mechanism...? And the underside of the stitch is beautifully done.
I too have purchased a machine where someone recently died. It was sad at first but I knew that I was helping him out so I was happy to buy it and I wished them all well. It's strange that I valued the machine more than they did, as I didn't know her; their mother had treated it so lovingly and it seemed to me that they considered the machine merely an item to be rid of.