Pneumo, the table

Here are a few sketches of a table I am working on.  The client lives in a little apartment and wants a round coffee table that can be raised up to the height of a dining table.  I am working with the idea of going from 18"-30" or so.  I thought of a few ways to actuate the movement but the winner is the gas hinge hidden inside a telescoping pedestal.  Like a task chair.  

I think I am going to buy an existing base and build it out.  I'm going with a carbonized bamboo plywood countertop material for the top.  Maybe powder coat the base white.  I need to have a really sexy solution for the action.  The act of raising and lowering the table is kind of intimate.  I need a mechanism that engages and disengages with sufficient tactile sensitivity... if you know what I mean.  What do I mean?  I mean it is an opportunity to make an impression.  The feel and the ease of the motion and the sound and the whole experience should be in tune with the other  design elements.  

That reminds me of a table I spent some quality time with back in '97 when I worked at Carlton House Restoration.  I actually drew it with the hopes of someday making one with a Lexan top and leaves.  I wanted to show the awesome gears that opened the table up when you spun the top.  I always thought that it was a shame that the coolest aspect of the whole table was only enjoyed by the maid  or whomever is the fortunate one with the task of changing the table diameter.  I have posted a drawing of the table top with and without it's leaves.  I hope I can find the ones I made.  Shite.  Where are they?