cylinder desk

[farms100]

I am in the design stage of making a desk with a cylinder front desk.  I've only seen a few pictures, most of them had the front closed, or were not very good quality.

i have a few questions.

Does the cylinder simply ride in a groove in the case side?

In some pictures it looks like the writing surface pulls forward once the door is slid back. Is there a mechanism that connects the door and the writing surface?

Are there any museums in the new England area that has one on display?

 

[Jack Plane]

I can't speak for North American cylinder desks, but with the English and Irish ones I've seen the cylinder travels in a groove in the carcase and pivots on iron quadrants on the ends of the cylinder, within the desk.

On the variety where the writing slide projects as the cylinder is opened, it does so via levers attached to the quadrants which push the slide out.

 

[Mark Arnold]

Sheraton does a pretty good job of showing how the mechanism works. Attached is plate 47 from his Cabinetmaker and Upholsterer's Drawing-Book.

 

[Mark Arnold]

he also describes how it is done on p400 (p98 of the Dover edition)

 

[Mark Arnold]

continued

 

[farms100]

Thanks Mark!
I've been meaning to get the Sheraton books and now I have a good reason to put them on the top of the list.  looking at the text I may get a ice cream headache translating it.

 

[farms100]

I drafted out the mechanism and I think the mechanics are correct but i 'm going to build a mock up to test it.

I assumed a 3/4 in door thickness, a 12 inch door radius.

Also how far does the writing surface move forward typically?

 

[Mark Arnold]

Sorry, I have no specs on that, but you can probably figure it out on paper. It appears to be a function of the trammel length.