Looking remarkably like the contemporary Hardinge/Cataract miller precision millers the Elgin HM-5C was aimed at the similar niece market for a very high quality, sturdy and compact toolroom-class machine able to tackle smaller jobs with the same degree of accuracy as much larger and very much more expensive machines. Whilst the machine resembled in many ways the company's VM-5 and VM-2 vertical models, and carried an identical knee and 181/8" x 18" 3 t-slot table assembly (with longitudinal, traverse and vertical movements of 12, 6 and 9.5) inches respectively), the main column was adapted to take the very much more complex spindle drive mechanism together with its 3 speed-change levers. Drive was from a base-mounted 2-speed 3/4-3/8 h.p. 3-phase motor that drove through a mechanical expanding and contracting pulley system to give a speed range from 85 to 2650 r.p.m.
Supported by a dovetail overarm carried in hand-scraped slides the nickel alloy steel spindle was ground internally and externally and ran in matched sets of  "Super Perfect" pre-loaded ball bearings. The maximum cutter-holding capacity in the (ubiquitous and inexpensive) 5C collet was 1 inch.
A neat table power-feed mechanism was available for an extra US$438: fitted with a standard fractional h.p. motor adapted to carry a worm-and-wheel reduction gearbox on its output shaft it drove through a 4-step V-pulley to the usual kind of universally-jointed shaft and had 4 rates of feed: 0.26, 0.60, 0.92 and 1.25 inches per minute.
With overall dimensions (including an allowance for table movements) of 33" x 42" the HM-5C weighed around 1000 lbs and cost, in 1953, the not inconsiderable sum of US$2849 for the basic machine ready to run or $3555 equipped with table power feed and coolant--the latter figure not far removed from the average American salary of the same year.

Maker's accessories including a swivel-base precision machine vice and a diving head -  the latter able to be mounted directly on the table or on two intermediate plates: one a single T-slot swivelling unit, the other a single T-slot right-angle adaptor