Sharing product markings across languages
A marking cast into a valve body should be copied exactly and explained separately. Mixing the two is how a transcription turns into a specification.
A cylinder valve carries markings cast or stamped into the body. Some are the model designation. Some are a pressure figure. Some are a batch or traceability code, and some will be characters in a language you do not read. Every one of them is useful, and every one of them is easy to damage in transit between your bench and your supplier's screen.
The damage always happens the same way: somebody transcribes and interprets in the same step, and the original is lost. The habit that prevents it is to keep those two things in separate columns, permanently.
Two columns, never one
Write the marking exactly as it appears, character for character, including spacing, slashes and characters you cannot identify. Put that in a column called "as marked". Then, in a second column called "reading", put what you think it means. Never edit the first column to agree with the second.
If a character is illegible, write it as a question mark rather than guessing the most likely letter. "XF-3?H" is an honest record. "XF-35H" written from a blurred marking is a fabricated one, and nobody downstream can tell the difference.
Five habits
Photograph before you transcribe - Take the picture first, then read from the picture. It gives everyone else a way to check your reading without going back to the part.
Do not translate the original away - If the marking is in Chinese, keep the characters in the "as marked" column. A translation belongs in the reading column, with a note that it is a translation.
Keep the position - Say where on the valve each marking sits - body, bonnet, nut. The same string in two places can mean two different things.
Separate the model from everything else - Only one marking is the model designation. The rest are not specifications and should not be quoted as though they were.
Never promote a marking to a parameter - A pressure figure cast into a body is confirmed against the factory record before it goes into a requirement. Cast text is evidence, not a datasheet.
Why it is worth the extra column
The payoff is not tidiness. It is that six months later, when a question arises about what was actually on the part, your record can answer it. A record that blends transcription with interpretation cannot, and the part is usually no longer available to check.
Send the photograph and your "as marked" transcription. We will tell you what the factory record supports and what it does not.