Cribari & Sons v. United States

13 Cust. Ct. 81, 1944 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 536
CourtUnited States Customs Court
DecidedAugust 25, 1944
DocketC. D. 874
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 13 Cust. Ct. 81 (Cribari & Sons 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
Cribari & Sons v. United States, 13 Cust. Ct. 81, 1944 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 536 (cusc 1944).

Opinion

LawheNCe, Judge:

A certain pot still, imported from France, was assessed with duty at the rate of 45 per centum ad valorem under the provision in paragraph 897 of the Tariff Act of 1930 for—

Articles or wares not specially provided for, if composed wholly or in chief value of * * * iron, steel, lead, copper, brass, nickel, pewter, zinc, aluminum, or other metal, but not plated with platinum, gold, or silver, or colored with gold lacquer, whether partly or wholly manufactured * * *.

Plaintiff contends that the importation is properly dutiable at the rate of 27y2 per centum ad valorem under the provision in paragraph 372 of said act for “all other machines, finished or unfinished, not specially provided for.” Although the protest alleges, as an alternative claim, that the merchandise is dutiable at the rate of 35 per centum ad valorem under paragraph 353 of said act as an article having as an essential feature an electrical element or device, that contention was not pressed by plaintiff, and since it is wholly unsupported by evidence it need not here be considered.

At the trial a diagram of the imported still was marked in evidence as illustrative exhibit A.

Alex Pancrazi, the sole witness herein, testified that he has been employed by the plaintiff for 10 years and at the time of this importation was assistant chemist; that the plaintiff operates a winery and rectifying plant and manufactures cordials and brandies and also engages in the redistillation of brandies, a process in which the pot still in question was used under his supervision, and that he superintended the installation of the imported still in plaintiff’s place of business.

He further testified that the importation comprised an entire still consisting of a pot still, preheater, condenser, hoist, and tilting device; that he supervised its operation for about 4 years; and that all parts of the still were imported except possibly a pipe “leading from the steam to the still” and the steam regulating gauge.

Aided by the diagram (illustrative exhibit A) and an examination of the testimonial record, it appears that the still is circular in shape, about 4 feet in diameter, has a capacity of 158 gallons, and has a double-jacketed bottom equipped with an inlet and outlet through which steam passes to heat the liquid in the still.

The cover of the still is conical in shape and weighs between 60 and 80 pounds. It has a coupling at the top to which is attached a pipe to convey vapors from the still to the preheater, from which the contents pass to the condenser and receiving tank.

The still is suspended on two pivot points, and when it is desired to clean or to fill the still, the cover is raised by means of a chain and pulley arrangement with hook attachment. An immovable handle or lever enables the still to be tilted for cleaning operations.

[83]*83Apparently the only movable articles in the shipment are the chain and pulley with hook attachment for raising and lowering the still cover. But these are detached and perform no function in the actual operation of the still.

With a view to supporting the contention that the imported apparatus is a machine in the tariff sense of the term, counsel for plaintiff, in their brief filed herein, insist that this pot still—

utilizes energy in the form of heat to vaporize the product to he distilled and condenses the resulting vapor by means of passing through a coil suspended in cold water.

Further, it is urged that—

The preheater which is an integral part of the whole, served to conserve and utilize heat from the vapor which otherwise would have been wasted in transferring it to the brandy to be distilled in the next operation.

And that—

In addition to the ordinary factors of a pot still, there were the mechanical contrivances for tilting the pot still in order to clean and empty it, and the mechanical hoist consisting of pulleys and a chain which was necessary to raise and lower the cover of the still.

Hence, counsel insist that “These factors of the machine clearly bring it within the principles established by this court in the case of F. W. Myers & Co., Inc. v. United States" (11 Cust. Ct. 5, C. D. 781).

But as we view it, the cited case is here readily distinguishable. The mechanism there in controversy was a hog singeing machine consisting of a cylindrical vessel divided into two parts resting on wheels, the parts being opened or closed by means of a movable lever. Moreover, an overhead trolley with a pulley and chain arrangement served to convey hogs to the cylindrical chamber where they were singed. It also appeared that the movable mechanical parts necessarily functioned in the actual operation of the machine itself, and without them the mechanism could not perform the purpose for which it was designed and constructed.

In the present importation neither the chain and pulleys which raise and lower the still cover nor the handle by which the still is tilted for cleaning purposes in any way function in the actual operation of distilling or redistilling brandy or other liquids. While the chain and pulley equipment may be, and probably are, important accessories to the still, that fact would not necessarily constitute them parts of the still. A jack does not become a part of an automobile merely because its use is essential in raising the car to change tires.

What constitutes a “part” of an article for tariff purposes was judicially enunciated in United States v. Willoughby Camera Stores, Inc., 21 C. C. P. A. (Customs) 322, T. D. 46851. The court said:

It is a well-established rule that a “part” of an article is something necessary to the completion of that article. It is an integral, constituent, or component [84]*84part, without which the article to which it is to be joined, could not function as such article. Welte & Sons v. United States, 5 Ct. Cust. Appls. 164, T. D. 34249; United States v. American Steel & Copper Plate Co., 14 Ct. Cust. Appls. 139, T. D. 41673; Peter J. Schweitzer Inc. v. United States, 16 Ct. Cust. Appls. 285, T. D. 42872, and cases cited therein; United States v. John Wanamaker, 16 Ct. Cust. Appls. 548, T. D. 43266.

Significantly, the court added:

The mei;e iact that two articles are designed and constructed to be used together, does not necessarily make either a part of the other. Columbia Shipping Co. et al. v. United States, 31 Ct. Cust. Appls. 281, T. D. 39085; United States v. Kalter Mercantile Co. et al., 11 Ct. Cust. Appls. 540, T. D. 39680.

In applying the stated principles to the camera tripods there before it, the court said:

We are of opinion, therefore, that, although it may be necessary to use tripods as supports for the involved cameras, tripods are not, for that reason, integral, constituent, or component parts of such cameras. The most that can be said is that the two articles — a tripod and a camera — are designed to be used together, one as a support for the other, and that they are chiefly so used.

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Related

Harris v. United States
27 Cust. Ct. 138 (U.S. Customs Court, 1951)

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Bluebook (online)
13 Cust. Ct. 81, 1944 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 536, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cribari-sons-v-united-states-cusc-1944.