Benecke v. United States

6 Cust. Ct. 432, 1941 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 97
CourtUnited States Customs Court
DecidedJune 5, 1941
DocketC. D. 509
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 6 Cust. Ct. 432 (Benecke v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Customs Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Benecke v. United States, 6 Cust. Ct. 432, 1941 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 97 (cusc 1941).

Opinion

DallingeR, Judge:

This is a suit against the United States, arising at the port of New York, brought to recover certain customs duties alleged to have been improperly exacted on a particular importation consisting of ground steel rolls, not polished, used as parts of rolling mills in the cold-rolling of steel. Duty was levied thereon at the rate of 30 per centum ad valorem under the provision in paragraph 372 of the Tariff Act of 1930 for parts of machine tools. It is claimed that said articles are properly dutiable at but 27}i per centum ad valorem under paragraph 372 of said act as parts of machines not specially provided for.

The plaintiff offered in evidence the testimony of three witnesses. The first, Alexander Benecke, the plaintiff, testified that he was familiar with.the merchandise involved herein; that each of the imported rolls consisted of a large cylindrical piece of steel weighing about 1,160 pounds and with its largest diameter measuring about 8% inches; that said rolls are made of steel; that the purchaser thereof furnished the witness with a blueprint showing the type of rolls desired, which blueprint was admitted in evidence as exhibit 1; that he had seen rolling mills in operation; that a rolling mill or a rolling mill plant consists of a large heavy steel structure from 8 to 12 feet high, used for the sole purpose of holding in position two or more rolls parallel to each other which revolve; that the rolls are fairly close together; that it is the purpose to drive a piece of steel between them; that he was familiar with the types of machine tools, such as lathes, milling machines, shaping machines, grinding machines, drilling machines, and boring machines; that he was familiar with the definition of machine tools contained in paragraph 372 of the Tariff Act of 1930; that the machine tools with which he was familiar came within that [434]*434definition; that in his opinion a rolling mill employing steel rolls such, as those involved in the instant case was not a machine tool as defined in said paragraph 372, for the reason that it does not employ a tool for work on metal.

On cross-examination the witness testified in part as follows:

X Q. It is operated by power other than hand, is it not? — A. It is operated by power, yes.
X Q. It employs the rolls, does it not? — A. It employs the rolls.
X Q. The rolls work on metal, do they not? — A. No, they don’t work on metal.
X Q. What is the purpose of the rolls? — A. The purpose of the rolls is to reduce the body, the steel, in size and to give it a smoother surface.
X Q. So that it does work on steel, does it not? — A. Not in the sense in which I consider work on steel.
Judge Dallingeb. You said it diminishes the size of steel.
The Witness. It diminishes the size of the steel.
Judge Dallingeb. And polishes it?
The Witness. Polishes it, gives it a smoother surface.
By Mr. FitzGibbon.
X Q. You say you sold grinding machines? — A. I have.
X Q. You say they are machine tools? — A. I do.
X Q. They diminish steel in size, do they not? — A. They reduce the steel but by a different method.
X Q. But they reduce the steel in size? — A. They 'reduce the steel in size and change the shape.
X Q. And shaping machines reduce steel in size and change the shape? — A. They reduce the size and change the shape.

On redirect examination the witness testified as follows:

R Q. What is the difference in the method of operation of a grinding machine and a rolling mill? — A. In a grinding machine a grinding wheel is employed. That grinding wheel removes material from the piece of metal which is being worked. It cuts off particles of the steel or metal of whatever the article is being machined. Therefore it reduces the weight; it becomes less. In a rolling mill, nothing like that takes place. The piece of metal or steel being worked, after having been worked, is the same weight as before; no metal has been reduced.

Tke second plaintiff’s witness, Franklin D. Jones, an editor of technical books on the editorial staff of the magazine called “Machinery” since 1902, testified that previous to 1902 he bad been a machinist for 7 years in the employ of various corporations; that as a machinist he had occasion to use machine tools, to wit, lathes, planers, shapers, drilling machines, and boring machines both horizontal and vertical that he had edited “The Machinery Handbook” a publication of 1,800 pages, which is used as a general reference book by engineers, executives, and workmen; that of this book 340,000 copies have been sold; that it was a leading authority in the British Empire as well as in Russia and Japan; that he had written numerous articles dealing particularly with machine tools; that he had been in close touch with the machine tool trade in the United States; that he was thoroughly familiar with [435]*435the operation of a rolling mill for cold-rolling steel; that in his opinion as an expert a rolling mill was not a machine tool because it does not conform to the only accepted meaning of that term; that in his opinion a machine tool is a power-driven complete metal-working machine, not portable by hand, having one or more tools or work-holding devices for progressively removing metal in the form of chips; and that in his opinion the common meaning is the same as the trade meaning of the term.

The witness then proceeded to testify in part as follows:

Q. Why doesn’t a rolling mill come within that definition? — A. I think there are two reasons. One, it doesn’t progressively remove metal in the form of chips; and second, in my opinion, it doesn’t contain a tool in the commonly accepted meaning of the term in the industry.
Q. What is your understanding of the word “tool” in the industry? — -A. As applied to that definition of a machine tool?
Q. Yes. — -A. It is an adjunct; it is something that is an auxiliary. It is not an integral part of the machine, but something that is applied and removed and adjusted.
Judge Dallinger. Just the same as a bit or drill on a borer?
The Witness. Yes, sir.

On cross-examination the witness testified as follows:

X Q. No machine tool will operate without a tool? — A. It will not.
X Q. So the tool is an integral part of the machine tool, isn’t it? — -A. I don’t think it is an integral part of the construction.
X Q. But it must be necessary to have a tool if you want to operate the machine tool? — -A. That is true.
X Q. Congress has defined a machine tool as “any machine operating other than by hand power which, employs a tool for work on metal”. What fault do. you find with that definition? — -A. You mean as applied to machine tools?
X Q. Yes. — A. I don’t think" a roll is a tool.

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Related

Kurt Orban Co. v. United States
41 Cust. Ct. 190 (U.S. Customs Court, 1958)
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36 Cust. Ct. 138 (U.S. Customs Court, 1956)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
6 Cust. Ct. 432, 1941 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 97, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/benecke-v-united-states-cusc-1941.