Robey engine question

[davewoo]

I saw this engine in the museum of Lincolnshire life last week, it is a Robey engine formerly installed at Woodhall Spa for raising the spa water by winding a barrel up a well. A very interesting engine and I was quite taken with it (not unusual for me and steam driven things!). One thing puzzles me and that is the core plug looking things on the side of the cylinder block, I can't imagine they would give access to the cylinder bore, they look too big and in the wrong place to be used for a steam indicator. So is it possible the block is steam jacketed and these are core plugs, as it is a winding engine and it's use would have been fairly intermittent it could make sense to keep the cylinders warm between runs. I would be very interested if anyone knows the answer. The mueum is well worth a visit and the building containing the engine and some traction engines a WW1 tank, locomotives and other delights smells wonderful!

Dave

[jasonb]

Most likely an early case of parts engineering. Robey made a lot of portables and the cylinder casting bears a good resemblance to them. On a portable, like a traction engine the cylinder is fitted to the top of the boiler and the steam passes through the casting and up to the regulator on the top. So yes they would have supported the core that formed the jacket/passages and allowed the sand to be removed after casting.

[davewoo]

Thanks Jason, that makes more sense than my steam jacket idea, didn't think of the fact that they probably used a common casting for multiple uses and having googled their portables it does look very similar. Must admit it had me puzzled.
Thanks Again
Dave