Texture mapping on a cylinder

I am novice, I need advice …

I am trying to texture an image over a cylinder. The image is a sequence of characters evenly spaced and I am trying to texture the cylinder with this image.

I am trying to develop a 3D model of a “Mechanical Odometer” similar to this:

http://static.howstuffworks.com/gif/odometer2.jpg

I need to have all the characters evenly mapped over the cylinder and be able to rotate the cylinder and view the characters.

Can this be done? I have read a lot about UV and generating a simple cylinder but still not sure on how to achieve my goal.

please advice.

http://www.biorust.com/index.php?page=tutorial_detail&tutid=85