Comment by nickpinkston

Yea, I think this is actually the real answer, and OP is just wrong.

Here are old and modern examples where the boilerplate is a standardized plate that's filled out using punched letters/numbers.

https://lestaret.files.wordpress.com/2009/09/boiler-3a.jpg

https://www.steephillequipment.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/0...

(am also in the MechE space)