C.E.Gaitzsch milling machines were made in Siegmar-Schönau, a former industrial area to the west of Chemnitz in Saxony, Germany, with limited numbers of their smaller models imported during the 1940s and 1950s by Dowding & Doll of Greatcoat Street, Westminster, London. One version of which details does survive is the Model GHH, with hand-operated table feeds, and its power-feed variants the GHFL, GHFN and GHFS.
Intended as a general-purpose horizontal miller, for its era the Gaitzsch was unusual in having (for a small machine) a dovetail instead of the expected round overarm - a fitting that contributed significantly to rigidity and improved rates of metal removal. Usefully sized at 7.875" x 21.625", the table had three ½" T-slots, a surrounding coolant trough, a longitudinal travel of 11.75", a traverse of 3.375" and vertically of 10.75". Although only a screw feed was available for the traverse motion the longitudinal and vertical could be by either screw (Model A) or lever (Model B). However, one very unusual specification, listed as the Model C, had the vertical movement fitted with both screw and lever feeds, the latter (to overcome the weight of knee, saddle and table), with an especially long operating handle.
Three different drive systems were available, all neatly enclosed behind an aluminium guard and contained within the pyramid-shaped column. The simplest, listed as the Type 1, had a hinged-plate mounted 1 h.p., 3-phase motor that drove directly to the spindle using a endless flat belt of woven silk running over 3-step cone pulleys. Depending upon the motor specified, and the size of pulleys ordered, the three speeds could be ordered as (with a 1000 r.p.m. motor) 510, 750 and 1080 r.p.m. or 640, 900 and 1080 r.p.m. With a 1500 r.p.m. motor the speeds became 800, 1160 and 1680 r.p.m. or 1000, 1400 and 2000 r.p.m. A 2-speed (750/1500 r.p.m. 1.5 h.p. motor was also available that gave a choice of two ranges: 395, 575, 825, 800, 1160 and 1680 r.p.m. or 490, 690, 960, 1000, 1400 and 1950 r.p.m. If a slightly wider spread was needed the makers offered the Type 2 drive with an intermediate countershaft that, driven by the 2-speed motor, gave a range from 200 to 1750 r.p.m. Should a full set of much lower speeds have been requested an intermediate reduction gear could be fitted that (driven by the 2-speed motor) gave speeds of: 90, 145, 235, 185, 300 and 475 r.p.m.
Running in "specially selected" precision ball races the alloy-steel spindle had its thrust taken out against the front bearing and was equipped with a No. 3 Morse taper nose. Either a 5/8" or 7/8" diameter arbor could be fitted, its outer end supported in a ball-race equipped drop bracket. Electrical controls were built neatly in to a box on the left-hand face of the column - another aspect of the miller that gave it an up-to-date appearance - although at the same time the absence of an easily reached safety stop button betrayed its age.
Similar in general arrangement to the GHH, the GHFL and GHFN versions shared the same 7.875" x 21.625" table but with the addition of power longitudinal feed driven by a neatly enclosed telescopic shaft that picked up the drive from an extension to the main motor. Feed rates were normally set at from 0.003" to 0.01" but could, to the customer's choice, be arranged instead to span 0.006" to 0.02". Normally, the fitting of power feeds would be expected to reduce a table's longitudinal travel but in this case allowed for an increase to 13.75". The traverse and vertical travels were also lengthened, the former to 5.5" and the latter to 11.37".
Powered by a 2-speed, 1.5 h.p. motor spindle speeds on the GHFL passed through a single-ratio reduction gear to give a slow range of 95, 130, 175, 195, 265 and 360 r.p.m. and on the GHFN, with a double-reduction gear, to give a range more suitable for general work of 95, 130, 175, 195, 265, 360, 400, 550, 747, 825, 1120 and 1500 r.p.m. With an identical mechanical and dimensional specification to the other two power-feed models, the GHFS used the same drive system as the previously mentioned Model GHH Type 1 together with an identical choice of motors and pulley sizes..