C. J. Tower & Sons v. United States

38 Cust. Ct. 257
United States Customs Court·Decided April 17, 1957·No. C. D. 1872·Published·Cited by 1 cases

Opinion

Lawrence, Judge:

Merchandise, described in the invoices as ‘Abrasive Furnace Ferro Silicon,” was classified by the collector of [258]*258customs as “ferrosilicon containing 8 per centum or more of silicon and less than 30 per centum” of the kind made dutiable in paragraph 302 (i) of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U. S. C. § 1001, par. 302 (i)), as modified by the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, 82 Treas. Dec. 305, T. D. 51802, at the rate of 1 cent per pound on the silicon content.

By its protest, plaintiff claims that the merchandise is free of duty, pursuant to the terms of paragraph 1664 of said act (19 U. S. C. § 1201, par. 1664), and, by an amendment of the protest, it is alternatively claimed that the commodity is “Free of duty under Public Law 869, 81st Cong., as amended; or 4% Par. 1555, Tariff Act of 1930, as modified.”

At the trial, the contention of plaintiff was more specifically set forth in the following terms:

The importer contends that the merchandise does not fall within the commercial meaning of the term, ferrosilicon, under the rules of commercial designation as enunciated by this Court, as that term was understood in the trade and commerce of the United States on and prior to June 17, 1930, and also on and prior to January 1, 1936 and January 1, 1939 and January 1, 1948, on each of which dates, trade agreements went into effect which contained the term ferrosilicon.

For convenience, paragraph 302 (i), as modified, supra, is here set out in full :

Ferrosilicon:
Containing 8 per centum or more of silicon and less than 30 per centum_ (6 per lb. on the silicon contained therein
Containing 30 per centum or more of silicon and less than 60 per centum_ 1J40 per lb. on the silicon contained therein
Containing 60 per centum or more of silicon and less than 80 per centum_ 2(i per lb. on the silicon contained therein
Containing 80 per centum or more of silicon and less than 90 per centum-per lb. on the silicon contained therein
Containing 90 per centum or more of silicon-4(5 per lb. on the silicon contained therein

Paragraph 1664, supra, relied upon by plaintiff, reads as follows:

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

Since the amended claims with reference to Public Law 869 and paragraph 1555 of the tariff act are not pressed or even referred to in argument, they are treated as having been abandoned.

At the trial, plaintiff introduced the testimony of five witnesses and the defendant called three.

[259]*259Plaintiff’s first witness, Arden Morris MacDonald, testified that, for the past 2 years, he had been the works manager for the Canadian Carborundum Co., Ltd., of Niagara Palls, Ontario, manufacturer and shipper of the subject merchandise. Prior to that time, he had been general superintendent of the company and previously had “worked on approximately every job in the plant,” his entire experience covering a period of 20 years.

He stated that the business of the company was the production of crude abrasive aluminum oxide and bonded abrasive products and that he was thoroughly familiar with the manner in which the imported commodity is produced, describing it as follows:

In our furnace plant, we have an electric-furnace process for the manufacture of crude abrasive aluminum oxide. This aluminum oxide is manufactured primarily from bauxite ore which in a metal state is approximately 86 per cent to 88 per cent aluminum oxide in a non-crystalline form. It also has impurities in the form of oxides, silica, iron, and titanium. In the electri-furnace [sic] process, two things happen, one is that in the melting, we change the non-crystalline structure of the aluminum oxide found in the metal ore to a crystalline structure, the other is that we reduce the undesirable impurities, namely the oxides of silica and iron and we control production of the oxide and titanium. This is accomplished by adding primarily coke or carbon to the mix when charged to the furnace which frees the oxides of silica and iron and leaves free silicon and free iron which unite to form the by-product metal which of its weight settles out in the bottom of the furnace.

The witness further pointed out that—

Iron borings are also- added to the mix to make this resultant metal magnetic. The prime purpose of that is that when processing aluminum oxide into abrasive products, it is necessary to remove any form of metal from the crude abrasive, and this is done by magnetic means, and if not removed, the resultant abrasive products would be scrap.

It further appears from the testimony of MacDonald that the primary product produced, in the process above described is crude abrasive aluminum oxide, also known by the name of Aloxite, and that the “by-product metal,” referred to by the witness, is the abrasive furnace ferrosilicon, represented by exhibits 1 and 2, which is the subject of this controversy.

Plaintiff’s second witness, Arthur W. Dimond, also connected with the Canadian Carborundum Co., Ltd., of Niagara Falls, Ontario, testified that, for about 4 years, he had held the position of process engineer and, for about 3 years prior thereto, had been employed as an analytical chemist. Previous to that time, he had been in the employ of three other companies engaged in different lines of activity.

In his capacity as an analytical chemist and as process engineer with the Canadian Carborundum Co., he had become familiar with the ingredients and characteristics of its products. He had analyzed the two carload importations in controversy and found the silicon [260]*260content of car NYC-634321 to be 16.10 per centum and of car NYC-712931 to be 16.57 per centum; that the components in various shipments are as follows: Iron, 73 to 83 per centum; silicon, 11 to 20 per centum; aluminum, 0.3 to 4.5 per centum; titanium, 1 to 7 per centum; alumina, 0.5 to 3 per centum; carbon 0.1 to 1.0 per centum; phosphorous and manganese, traces.

Plaintiff’s third witness, Clay P. Hellwig, testified that he had been connected with the Kerchner-Marshall Co. and other allied companies for a period of 38 years as American sales agent.

He stated that the term “ferrosilicon,” as sold to foundries and steel plants, has reference to “a primary product made under definite specifications in a blast furnace and in a pig-iron form originally, it was a pig-iron”; that the term “ferrosilicon,” as understood in the trade, would not include abrasive furnace ferrosilicon.

Plaintiff’s fourth witness, George B. Michie, was vice president of the Electro-Refractories and Abrasive Corp., which is engaged in the manufacture of crucibles, refractories, grinding wheels, abrasive wheels, and carbon grain. He had been with that company since December 1930 and, prior to that time — from 1923 to 1926 — he was connected with the metallurgical department of the International Motor Co.

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C. J. Tower & Sons v. United States, 38 Cust. Ct. 257 (cusc 1957).

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