Bryant & Heffernan, Inc. v. United States

42 C.C.P.A. 185, 1955 CCPA LEXIS 214
CourtCourt of Customs and Patent Appeals
DecidedApril 28, 1955
DocketNo. 4819
StatusPublished

This text of 42 C.C.P.A. 185 (Bryant & Heffernan, Inc. v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Customs and Patent Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bryant & Heffernan, Inc. v. United States, 42 C.C.P.A. 185, 1955 CCPA LEXIS 214 (ccpa 1955).

Opinion

Worley, Judge,

delivered the opinion of the court:

At issue in this appeal is the proper classification of certain merchandise which is agreed to be raw silk on cones, exported from Japan and entered at the port of New York in 1949. It was classified by the collector as “Yarns made from raw silk, nspf,” under paragraph 1204 of the Tariff Act of 1930:

1204. Sewing silk, twist, floss, and silk threads or yarns of any description; made-from raw silk, not specially provided for, 40 per centum ad valorem.

The importer protested that classification. The United States Customs Court, Second Division, C. D. 1603, overruled the collector and held the merchandise to be dutiable in accordance with the provisions of paragraph 1201:

1201. Silk partially manufactured, including total or partial degumming other than in the reeling process, from raw silk, waste silk, or cocoons, and silk noils . exceeding two inches in length; all the foregoing, if not twisted or spun, 35 per centum ad valorem.

Appellants do not appeal from the court’s action in overruling the collector’s classification, but come here seeking a more favorable judgment under other provisions of the Tariff Act. Primary refiance here, as below, is placed on the provisions of paragraph 1763, which provides for free entry and reads:

1763. Silk, raw, in skeins reeled from the cocoon, or rereeled, but not wound, doubled, twisted, or advanced in manufacture in any way.

[187]*187Alternative claims renewed by appellants are paragraphs 1211 and 1558‘of the Tariff Act of 1930 as modified by the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, 82 Trea's. Dec. 305, T. D. 51802, and read:

[1211] All manufactures, wholly or in chief value of silk, not specially provided for_35% ad val.
.[1558] All raw or unmanufactured article's not enumerated or provided for (except frogs and frog legs)_5% ad val.

Briefly stated, the record discloses that raw silk becomes an article of commerce in the following manner: After the dried cocoons are taken from storage they are inspected, sorted for quality, and placed on an endless chain in hot water to soften them for the reeling operation. They are then mounted in small wooden buckets, and again immersed in water in a reeling basin which generally contains 20 small aluminum reels approximately 8 inches in diameter. To obtain 'the desired denier, an appropriate number of cocoons are placed in combination, the filaments or threads from each cocoon are withdrawn simultaneously, passed through a small porcelain eyelet and rim over a tension wheel. That process establishes uniform tension and results in a single thread which is reeled onto the aluminum reels. The reels are then removed from the reeling machine and transported to a rereeling room where the silk is rereeled from the aluminum reels to a large wooden collapsible reel having the diameter of a standard skein. When the desired amount of silk is thus rereeled, it is laced, the ends tied, the wooden reel collapsed, and the silk fashioned into skein form.

The record also shows that the instant merchandise is processed in the same manner up to its removal from the aluminum reel. At that point the silk is wound on paper cones as distinguished from the wooden reels.

It appears that when raw silk in skein form enters this country, additional steps are necessary before it is ready for use. Those steps, known as “throwing,” generally involve “winding,” “doubling,” “twisting” and “re-twisting.” One witness testified that the “throwing”. processes, performed by an artisan known as a “throwster,” include “winding, doubling, twisting, cone winding, spooling and soaking”; that any combination or sequence of those operations are considered throwing; that his company had processed raw silk (in skeins) by winding it, warping it, doubling it, twisting it, winding it on cones, winding it on quills or cops, and weaving it; and that such merchandise was not always treated prior to winding it on to spools, explaining that

If it were for certain purposes in warps it was wound dry and on to spools and from the spools it was drawn on to beams and it was then called a warp; it was then woven on a loom by the interlacing — by the weft into the warp which is what makes cloth.

[188]*188It appears that when, it is desired to “double” or “twist” raw silk in skein form, it is necessary to soak it in a solution of soap and oil to reduce its wiriness. However, if it is to be used for warping purposes the soaking can be and generally is dispensed with, although .in both instances the silk .must still be transferred from the skeins on to spools, bobbins, or the like, before it can be used on the silk-manufacturing machinery.

The record shows that when raw silk on cones as here, and as distinguished from raw silk in skeins, enters this country, it is readily adaptable for immediate use on certain types of silk-manufacturing machinery and is so used. Thus it is apparent that raw silk imported on cones eliminates some of the labor involved in the “throwing” processes required in connection with raw silk imported in skein form.

It is agreed that the instant merchandise is not “doubled” nor “twisted,” and further agreed that if it- were in skein form it would be entitled to free entry.

The Customs Court, in arriving at its decision, one member dissenting in part, relied on the case of U. S. v. KLots, 133 Fed. 808, T. D. 25790, affirmed, 139 Fed. 606, T. D. 26450, which arose under the provisions of the Tariff Act of 1897. The facts there are closely analogous to those here. Involved was raw silk which, prior to ■importation, had been wound from skeins on to tubes or cops. The silk in that form was classified under paragraph 384 of the Tariff Act of 1897, which corresponds to paragraph 1201 of the present act, and, so far as pertinent, read:

384. Silk partially manufactured from coco.ons or from waste silk, and not further advanced or manufactured then carded or combed silk * * *.

The importer claimed free entry under paragraph 660 of the act of 1897, which read: • ...

660. Silk, raw,- or as reeled from the cocoon, but not doubled, twisted, or advanced in manufacture in any way¡

The Board of General Appraisers, one member dissenting, granted free entry under that paragraph, stating inter alia that “If Congress intended that raw silk covered by this paragraph should come in only in skeins, it could have so legislated.” Upon appeal that judgment was reversed by the Circuit Court, and the latter action affirmed by the Circuit Court of Appeals.

The appellate court was of the opinion that the “winding” of the silk on tubes or cops constituted an advance in manufacture within the meaning of paragraph 660, adding that the silk as imported, “had been re-reeled by machinery from skeins upon tubes or spools which were adapted to fit into a silk loom and immediately woven without further manipulation, instead of being imported in skeins, as was the custom.” (Italics supplied.)

[189]

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Related

United States v. Klotz
133 F. 808 (U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Southern New York, 1904)
United States v. Stewart
133 F. 811 (U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Southern New York, 1904)
Klots v. United States
139 F. 606 (Second Circuit, 1905)

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42 C.C.P.A. 185, 1955 CCPA LEXIS 214, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bryant-heffernan-inc-v-united-states-ccpa-1955.