chele, The silver disc on the back is for servicing the machine. you can release the disc and oil the moving parts, anywhere that 2 pieces meet and move. You can pick up a belt at Joanns on the notions wall or go to a good sewing machine dealer for a complete rehab. If you do this yourself, DO NOT use any heavy duty cleaners on the outside of the machine. Try a little Dawn in a bowl of water and a wrung out rag or paper towel, and wipe down the machine. then dry off. If you use chemicals, they will remove the pretty paint. So glad that you found such a little gem.

The Silver thingy you can take of and put on a add on Light which you can get used or buy at several online sewing machine parts places. It is very like an Old Singer or round here we call em PickyMaMa's. Real fun to have and Play with. Enjoy you're new Toy!!! I wish mine was gonna be that easy. Mine is a Yamata and is still a Problem Child!!!

Oh I shouldve said it Is a Place to service{Oil} the machine and also after you add on a light you can put back the silver thingy. I've done this before not on the Elgin brand but it's Basic Stuff. Happy Dance!!!

Here are a couple of websites that sell parts for vintage machines. I ordered a belt for my cousin's treadle a few years ago.

http://sewingmachine221sale.bizland....re/page90.html

If the machine has a belt, you can take it off and measure it to order from this website:

http://www.tandtrepair.com/Motor_Belts.html

Most of these old machines had very standardized parts, so you shouldn't have any difficulty fitting a new belt.

Just read some of the other posts; I didn't know JoAnn's carries belts!

Whenever I get an old machine, I oil all moving parts. Just one or two drops at each location is enough. Be sure to use sewing machine oil; other types are not fine enough.

All of the holes in the top of the machine are likely to be oiling holes. Plus, as others have mentioned, you can unscrew the silver plates in the back and on the left side to oil more moving parts. Check the bottom of the machine, because those parts need to be oiled too (remove bottom cover if it has one). Also remove the bobbin case and shuttle race; I wipe a film of oil on the outside of the shuttle race. If you can see a small red piece of felt in that lower bobbin area, put a drop or two of oil on it. Do not remove the felt! It is there intentionally to hold oil.

HTH!

Picked up a portable machine at a thrift store yesterday.
It looks a bit like the Singer Ultralight, but it is labeled as "Macy's Own Herald" The plate reads Precision Built Made In Japan
s/n # is 05615294 Any ideas if it is common or rare?
THANKS!

Beautiful machine!

I think there were a lot of Singer-type machines made in Japan which were then "badged" with different names. The machine itself is probably fairly common, but the badge could be rare. I don't know that anyone collects badges for sewing machines, though, so I doubt it has any collector's value. You might set up a year-long search at eBay with keywords to see if any turn up there. Also, you can do a search of completed items on eBay to see if any have sold there within the last 1 to 3 months (I think that's all the history they keep). An actual selling price is a much better indication of value than an asking price. Many people think any aged sewing machine is valuable, but that is not the case because there was such high production of many models.

Looks exactly like the one we just bought for $25. It has been sitting out in the weather and is a little rusty. Hubby plans to
refinish it for me. The cabinet is bad, but he does woodwork, maybe he can work a tiny miracle with it.