Help with Pedestal Table

I'm new at posting so I'll try to do things right. I have inherited this dining room table and am attempting to fix the "wobbliness" of this pedestal and the extension mechanism. After sliding open a little bit it exposes this handle that allows it to open further. (I think) The one side of the pedestal has its functional part missing. What should the other side look like? Does that iron piece go into another metal piece that is connected to the opposite side? Any help is appreciated.

 

I don't have the answers to your questions but the furniture gurus may.

It's a lovely old pedistal, bet it's heavy (oak).

Thumbs up for laying down a drop cloth too!

 

That is fantastically amazing - looks like the main post was a pattern for a casting from a foundry as it is not solid and the 2 halves (Cope/Drag) have dowel pins to be matched up to the holes. The metal apparatus my have been used to keep the 2 halves of the base together during the sand molding process!
I'm thinking someone took the pattern and tried making it into a table as the legs look added.
That so much looks like the way we used to glue up segments to make a roundish chunk of wood to be turned on the lathe to make a round pattern.

You have to figure you ain't adding a table top to that the way the pics show!

 

looks like old English oak !
Nice item !!!

 

I should have taken a picture of it before I disassembled it. Everything simply unscrewed, I didn't have to mess with any glued pieces. It actually has the table and 4 extension boards. When you open it all the way (for all 4 boards) the halves of the pedestal separate by a good 2 feet apart. Then they come back together again when you make it small again. Unfortunately, the table top has been refinished but the pedestal and feet haven't. Hopefully somebody will recognize this apparatus and know how it worked.

 

Have never seen this mechanism before. Are you in the US?

 

Yes, we are in central Ohio

 

Welcome to the forums. Like the others I'm amazed with this table. Most of all I'm stupefied. I also have never seen this type of mechanism, and believe me I have seen a multitude of extension tables in my lifetime! I see that the crank/handle has "Pat. PND..." (Patent Pending) on it. Is there any other markings especially pertaining to patent info on any of the other hardware? If we could pinpoint a patent date or number we could probably locate the actual patent to see how this all works.

--- Susan

 

Thank you so much, to all of you that took the time to look at this.

Ladybranch, that is an excellent idea. I have looked over and over for numbers, and the attached pictures are all I can come up with. I have not found any numbers on any metal. I also checked the back of the metal shaft that has the handle, but there's nothing there. I have no idea whether location of the numbers is meaningful, but I panned out so that you can see the placement. I had tried to get some info as to what these numbers mean but wasn't able to find much. Again, Thank you for your help!

 

This is a table in which the pedestal splits in two and moves with the legs for support. The wheels on the feet make it easier to open.

You are missing a wood piece that would have held the bracket that this
locked into


It should have gone here and when lined up with the other side, probably sits just below the other bracket.



I just got a phone call and have to leave or I would look for examples of splitting pedestal tables.

 

My family's dining room table (circa 1900 oak, gotten in the late 50's from friends who inherited it but had no room for it) has the 4-leaf, split pedestal expansion arrangement. Last I saw it taken apart, it was to be moved out of Mom's house in 2011 by my sister and her husband. Unfortunately I was rather busy with other things that needed to be divided up and hauled out, so I don't recall whether it had a similar hardware thing inside the pedestal. I think Cluttered is right on what's missing, though.

 

Thank you so much Cluttered! That was helpful. I searched with those terms and found a picture that is very close to mine; not exact, but close. That table was listed on Etsy.com as 1900 - 1909, which lines up perfectly with what Bakersgma said. I will continue to search for the hardware pictures. I'm assuming the wood part would look similar to its mate, but I have no idea what the hardware part would look like. I may also have gotten a break, I found on older gentleman that is still alive and his parents had this table when he was young. I am trying to get in touch with him. Thank you all for your help!

 

There are a few examples on this Google image page

https://www.google.com/search?q=ant...ved=0ahUKEwjI4Ovf-bzPAhXIOyYKHeCQB4gQ_AUIBygC

 

WayneW, I hope you have found an answer. I was just catching up with some threads and ran across this one. My mother has an old pedestal table that has a mechanism for expansion, similar to some of the ones being discussed here. But not similar to yours!

 

Thank you figtree! I am having a Machinist make a piece that I designed for function, because I have no idea what the original looked like. I hope that doesn't hurt the value of this table, but since it's not easily seen, I think it will be alright.
Thanks again!

 

That should eliminate the wobbles.