Bird Machine Co. v. United States

49 Cust. Ct. 65, 1962 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 1302
CourtUnited States Customs Court
DecidedOctober 4, 1962
DocketC.D. 2362
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 49 Cust. Ct. 65 (Bird Machine Co. 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
Bird Machine Co. v. United States, 49 Cust. Ct. 65, 1962 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 1302 (cusc 1962).

Opinions

LaweeNcb, Judge:

Plaintiff brought this action by protest pursuant to the terms of section 514 of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C. § 1514).

Certain machines known as Skardal stock preparators, and parts, were classified by the collector of customs as “Other stock treating parts for paper and pulp machinery,” pursuant to the provisions of paragraph 356 of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C. § 1001, par. 356), as modified by the trade agreement with Sweden, 68 Treas. Dec. 19, T.D. 47785, or the Sixth Protocol of Supplementary Concessions to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, 91 Treas. Dec. ISO, T.D. 54108, and duty was imposed thereon at the rate of 20 per centum, 19 per centum, 18 per centum, or 17 per centum ad.valorem, depending upon the date of entry.

The various parts to which the entries relate are described in the stipulation referred to, infra, with English translations, as one set of stators and rotors, Slapas (shoes), Malrings (cylinders), Rotomavs (spiders), Mellanvagg (separator), Axel (shaft), Ring (spacer), Lagerlock (bearing housing cap), Lasbricka (lockwasher), and Lasmutter (locknut).

Plaintiff concedes that the classification of the Slapas, Malrings, and Rotomavs in entry 22483 and the 18 Slapas and 7 Malrings in entry 10859, as well as the 5 Malrings in entry 5694, were properly classified.

As to the Skardal stock preparators and merchandise other than that specified in the above concession, plaintiff contends that the proper classification should be as “machines for making paper or paper pulp” or parts thereof, as provided in paragraph 372 of said act (19 U.S.C. § 1001, par. 372), as modified by the Torquay Protocol to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, 86 Treas. Dec. 121, T.D. 52739, and subjected to duty at the rate of 10 per centum ad valorem, or by the sixth protocol, sufra, which provides duty at the rate of 9% per centum, 9 per centum, or 8y2 per centum ad valorem, according to the date of entry.

The pertinent text of the statutes involved is here set forth.

Paragraph 356 of the Tariff Act of 1930:

Planing-machine knives, tannery and leather knives, tobacco knives, paper and pulp mill knives, roll bars, bed plates, and all other stock-treating parts for pulp and paper machinery, * * * meat-slicing cutters, * * * 20 per centum ad valorem.

[67]*67Paragraph 356 of said act, as modified by the trade agreement with Sweden, supra:

Planing-machine knives, tannery and leather knives, tobacco knives, paper and pulp mill knives, roll bars, bed plates, and all other stock treating parts for pulp and paper machinery, * * * meat-slicing cutters, * * *_20% ad val.
Note. — The existing customs classification treatment of articles not more specifically provided for than in paragraph 356 or in the last clause of the first sentence of paragraph 352, Tariff Act of 1930, and described in both such provisions of law, as being more specifically provided for in paragraph 356, in accordance with the decision of the United States Customs Court published as Abstract 23625 ( 63 Treas. Dec. 1417), shall be continued during the effective period of this Agreement.

Paragraph 356 of said act, as modified by the sixth protocol, supra:

Roll bars, bed plates, and all other stock-treating parts for pulp and paper machinery (not including paper or pulp
mill knives)- 19% ad val. 18% ad val. 17% ad val.

Paragraph 372 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as modified by the Torquay Protocol to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, supra:

Machines, finished or unfinished, not specially provided for:
Calculating machines * * *
*******
Machines for making paper pulp or paper_10% ad val.
*******
Paragraph 372 of said act, as modified by the sixth protocol, supra:
Machines, finished or unfinished, not specially provided for:
Adding machines * * *
******* Combination candy cutting and wrapping machines; machines for making paper or paper pulp; * * 9% % ad val. 9% ad val. 8%% ad val.
*******

At the trial, the case was submitted for decision upon a written stipulation of fact, the testimony of two qualified witnesses, called by plaintiff, illustrative exhibits 1 and 2 (schematic drawings), and exhibit 3, a book entitled “Modem Pulp and Paper Making,” 3d edition, 1957, by George S. Witham, Sr., revised by John B. Calkin.

It appears from the stipulation that the so-called Skardal stock preparator, which is illustrated in exhibits A, B, and C, attached to the stipulation, “is an integrated mechanical complex lacking only motive power from an outside source in order to perform the function for which it is designed, namely, the refining of paper slurry from virgin stock, waste paper, etc., by means of a grinding or grating-action.”

The stipulation further provides that the machine performs a refining process in three stages, characterized by the fact that drill holes [68]*68in th.e shoes and cylinders are smaller in the second stage than in the first stage and still smaller in the third stage than in the second. Depending upon the stock to be treated and the end result desired, cylinders and shoes with larger or smaller perforations may be substituted, and the working angle between the shoes and cylinders modified by the substitution of spiders of varying dimensions.

Paragraph 7 of the stipulation describes the functions of the machine in the following terms:

* * * The stock enters through the inlet port into the first stage where it is beaten and ground between the rotating shoes and inner surface of the stationary cylinder until it has been sufficiently refined to pass through the perforations in the cylinder (See Exhibit B). It then flows into the second stage where the same process is repeated, the slurry 'becoming further beaten and ground and thus refined. It then passes through the perforations in the second cylinder into the third stage and after further beating and grinding leaves the machine through the perforations in the third cylinder and then the exhaust port. The function performed by the machine is the refinement of the stock fed to the machine, the process involved being that of making the fibres of the paper slurry shorter and finer by beating and grinding.

Plaintiff’s first witness, George L. Nelson, a 'highly trained and experienced mechanical engineer, and who was well informed in the business of pulp and paper manufacture, testified at length with regard to the nature and functioning of machinery employed in the conversion of raw material or stock, such as logs, or waste paper into pulp and paper. His testimony corroborates the recital of facts set forth in the stipulation in greater detail.

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Related

Bird Machine Co. v. United States
49 Cust. Ct. 81 (U.S. Customs Court, 1962)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
49 Cust. Ct. 65, 1962 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 1302, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bird-machine-co-v-united-states-cusc-1962.