C. J. Tower & Sons of Buffalo, Inc. v. United States

56 Cust. Ct. 152, 1966 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 2018
CourtUnited States Customs Court
DecidedMarch 2, 1966
DocketC.D. 2623
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 56 Cust. Ct. 152 (C. J. Tower & Sons of Buffalo, Inc. 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
C. J. Tower & Sons of Buffalo, Inc. v. United States, 56 Cust. Ct. 152, 1966 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 2018 (cusc 1966).

Opinion

Rao, Chief Judge:

Certain merchandise invoiced as “Abrasive Sludge” was exported in bulk from Canada and entered at Buffalo, N.Y.

The collector classified this merchandise under paragraph 302 (i) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as modified by the Sixth Protocol of Supplementary Concessions to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, 91 Treas. Dec. 150, T.D. 54108, which reads as follows:

Ferrosilicon:

Containing 8 per centum or more of silicon and less than 60 per centum,

and assessed duty at the rate there provided, to wit, 0.8 of a cent per pound on the silicon content.

By timely protest, plaintiff states this “merchandise is properly free of duty under Par. 1664” of the Tariff Act of 1930, which reads as follows:

Metallic mineral substances in a crude state, such as drosses, skim-mings, residues, brass foundry ash, and flue dust, not specially provided for.

At the trial, Government counsel moved to incorporate the record in protest 217087-K, reported as C. J. Tower & Sons v. United States, 46 CCPA 36, C.A.D. 692, which affirmed Same v. Same, 38 Cust. Ct. 257; C.D. 1872. The trial Judge declined to grant or deny the motion [154]*154and took it under advisement. Hence, this motion will be considered herein and disposed of infra.

Plaintiff introduced the testimony of three witnesses, as well as a jar of material allegedly fairly representative of the merchandise under consideration which was received in evidence as plaintiff’s exhibit 1. Plaintiff also introduced a jar of material allegedly a byproduct ferrosilicon, which was received without objection and marked exhibit 2. Both products come out of the same operation, the production of aluminum oxide abrasives.

Defendant introduced the testimony of three witnesses, as well as a letter, dated December 14, 1960, addressed to plaintiff. This letter was written by the Hanna Furnace Corp., Buffalo, N.Y., to which the imported merchandise was delivered by the Canadian exporter, Lionite Abrasives, Ltd. It was received in evidence as defendant’s exhibit A. It is therein recited that the Hanna firm received two truckloads of abrasive sludge on May 10, 1960, and seven truckloads on July 7,1960; that its records indicate that an analysis was made on April 1, 1960, which showed a silicon content of 8.39 percent; iron, 56.39 percent; aluminum oxide, 21.60 percent; titanium, 3.30 percent; and chromium, 0.39 percent. It was later explained by plaintiff’s witness Mr. Bray that the above analysis was not of the instant imported material, but of a sample of material taken from a pile in Canada containing about 4 or 5 thousand tons, which tonnage included the merchandise now under consideration.

As this case has been presented for decision, there is virtually no dispute concerning essential facts although the record is replete with evidence tending to challenge the validity of Government samples and analyses of the imported merchandise. It does not now appear that plaintiff pursues these technical issues or contends that any of the batches of the subject material tests less than 8 percent or more than 60 percent of silicon. Plaintiff concedes that the imported material is a metal containing at least 50 percent of iron.

In claiming that the instant merchandise is properly entitled to free entry as metallic mineral substances in a crude state within paragraph 1664, supra, plaintiff now relies upon the contention that by virtue of the presence in substantial quantities, as indicated, infra, of certain metallic contaminants, the imported material is not ferrosilicon under any circumstances.

The issue presented is, therefore, whether plaintiff has established that the imported merchandise is not “ferrosilicon” as contemplated by paragraph 302(i), as modified, supra.

It appears from the record, and more particularly from the testimony of plaintiff’s witnesses Paul Blum, owner of Paul Blum Co, of [155]*155Buffalo, N.Y., tbe importer of this merchandise, and David K. Bray, a chemical engineer, who is manager of quality control of General Abrasive Co., Niagara Falls, N.Y., the so-called “parent” of Lionite Abrasives, Ltd., Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada, with whose production he is acquainted, that the instant merchandise represented by exhibit 1 comes out of the same manufacturing operation as does exhibit 2, both being by-products in the production of aluminum oxide abrasives. The manufacturing process is substantially as follows:

Bauxite, to which coke, borings, and turnings are added, is furnaced in an electric arc furnace which is a cylindrical steel shell known as the Higgins-type furnace; it is filled approximately one-third full with the above mixture; the arc is struck and the furnace is then periodically fed with a mixture of the above materials which melt until the furnace shell is completely full. The furnace shell is then water-cooled on the outside by a ring placed around the upper part of the furnace, permitting water to cascade over the outer shell. After such action, the material is allowed to cool for about 4 or 5 days, by which time it is safe to work with it. The ingot thus produced solidifies, allegedly resulting in “almost pure metallic ferrosilicon” (exhibit 2) collecting at the bottom, with alumina at the top. The layer in-between them is where merchandise represented by exhibit 1 comes from. The ingots are crushed by drop-weights and broken down into chunks about a foot square, from which selection is made of those sections suitable for abrasives. The remainder is crushed and passed over magnetic separators to remove metallic iron or ferrosilicon still present in the material, resulting in by-product ferrosilicon and abrasive sludge, represented, respectively, by exhibit 2 and exhibit 1.

Mr. Blum also testified that exhibit 2 is a practically pure material, purchased as by-product ferrosilicon, while exhibit 1 is a waste material, a mixture of alumina, iron, silicon, and other elements, mostly contaminants, which is purchased as abrasive furnace sludge or abrasive furnace sludge tailings or tailings; that he sometimes calls exhibit 1 “ferrosilicon scrap”; that exhibit 2 can be used in making steel as an alloy, while exhibit 1 is used as a charge in the blast furnace similar to ore in making raw iron, pig iron.

Mr. Bray also testified that abrasive sludge consists of “iron, silicon, aluminum, a little carbon-silica, probably, and a range in trace elements which are usually very, very small”; that exhibit 1 is a metallic mineral mixture in a crude state; that both exhibits 1 and 2 contain ferrosilicon; that it is not impossible for exhibit 1 to have a silicon content over 10 percent; that it could be called a low-grade ferro-silicon, but he calls it “tailings.”

Plantiff’s other witness, Charles E. Makey, testified that his formal [156]*156education ended with high, school; that he is chief chemist for the Hanna Furnace Corp.

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Bluebook (online)
56 Cust. Ct. 152, 1966 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 2018, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/c-j-tower-sons-of-buffalo-inc-v-united-states-cusc-1966.