1831年,“用於製造蒸汽鍋爐的大型平板狀鐵板”,源自 boiler + plate(名詞)。在報紙(現在是信息技術)俚語中,指“可以一遍又一遍使用而不需要更改的寫作單位”的意義可以追溯到1887年。連接概念可能是準備好的板與排版相比的永久性:從1870年代到1950年代,宣傳品是鑄造或衝壓成金屬,準備好送到鄉村報紙作爲填充物。早期的供應商是美國新聞協會(1882年)。最大的供應商後來是西部報業聯盟。
它的舊名是 plate-matter “用於插入不同報紙的多個鑄造板的排版”(1878年)。Plate(名詞)在印刷中的意義可以追溯到1824年,指“排版的一頁鑄造模型”。
WITHIN the past ten years, "plate matter" has become more and more popular among out-of-town papers, and the more enterprising are discarding the ready prints and are using plate matter instead. For a long time there was a prejudice against "Boiler Plates," but editors of small, and even of prosperous papers, began to discover that better matter was going out in the plates than they could afford, individually, to pay for. It was found that the reading public did not care, so long as the reading columns were bright and newsy, whether they were set up in the local office or in New York. ["The Journalist Souvenir," 1887]
在過去的十年中,“鑄造版面”在城外的報紙中變得越來越受歡迎,更有進取心的報紙放棄了現成的印刷品,改用鑄造版面。很長一段時間,人們對“鍋爐板”有偏見,但小報甚至是繁榮的報紙的編輯們開始發現,鑄造版面中的內容比他們個人能夠支付的更好。人們發現,只要閱讀欄目內容生動有趣,讀者並不在乎它們是在當地辦公室還是在紐約排版的。【“新聞工作者紀念品”,1887年】