Dollar Trading Corp. v. United States

64 Cust. Ct. 153, 1970 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 3191
CourtUnited States Customs Court
DecidedMarch 6, 1970
DocketC.D. 3975
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 64 Cust. Ct. 153 (Dollar Trading Corp. 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
Dollar Trading Corp. v. United States, 64 Cust. Ct. 153, 1970 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 3191 (cusc 1970).

Opinion

Maletz, Judge:

This case involves the proper tariff classification of articles invoiced as “wire scrapers” that were imported in 1966 from West Germany. They were classified by the government under item 750.70 of the Tariff 'Schedules of the United States as ‘brushes, and duty was assessed at the rate of 28 percent at valorem. Plaintiff seeking partial refund of duty challenges this assessment and claims that the articles should be classified as hand tools under item 651.47, dutiable at the rate of 17 percent. We overrule the protest.

The pertinent provisions of the tariff schedules are as follows:

Classified under:
Schedule 7, Part 8:
Combs; Hair OrNAmeNts; Brooms AND Brushes; Paiot Rollers; UMBRELLAS AND CaNES
Subpart A.-Combs, PIair OrNameNts, Brooms asp Brushes, PaiNt Pollers
*******
Other brooms and brushes:
*******
750.70 Other- 28% ad val.
Claimed under:
Schedule 6, Part 3:
[155]*155Metal PROdttcts
;Jí *!• ^ ^ ^
Subpakt E.-Tools, Cutlery, Fokks AND SpooNS
Subpart E headnotes:
1. * * * this subpart covers only articles (i) base metal;
with a blade, working edge, working surface or other working part of—
íjí % * ❖ * *
Hand tools (including table, kitchen, and household implements of the character of hand tools) not specially provided for, and metal parts thereof:
Other hand tools :
:¡c * $ * * *
651.47 Other_ 17% ad val.

The case was submitted for decision upon the following stipulation of the parties: (1) that the merchandise in issue is the same in all material respects as the merchandise involved in Dollar Trading Corp. v. United States, 51 Cust. Ct. 154, Abstract 67859 (1963); (2) that the record in that case be incorporated in the record of this case; (3) that the merchandise here is in chief value of steel; and (4) that its working surface consists of metal wires.

As indicated in the previous Dollar Trading case, the merchandise has the general appearance of a brush. “It consists of a wooden head or block of an overall length of 131/a inches. Embedded therein and extending for 6y2 inches of the length thereof are tufts of steel wire, approximately 1% inches long and arranged in rows of three. The remaining 7 inches of the head or block are curved in a manner to form a handle for the article, which is a hand-operated instrument.” 51 Cust. Ct. at 155. It was classified by the government under the provision in paragraph 1506 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as modified, for “Brushes, not specially provided for (except paint brushes).” Plaintiff claimed that it was properly classifiable under paragraph 397 of the 1930 act, as modified, for articles composed wholly or in chief value of steel, not specially provided for.

Evidence at trial indicated that the article was used, among other things, to remove scales from forgings; to scrape away blistered paint from metal; to scrape the rust and small burrs from the threats on pipes; to scrape away the accumulated waste from butcher blocks; and to remove sand from small castings. Against this background, plaintiff [156]*156argued that the article was a scraper and not a brush on the basis that a brush is an item used to clean by brushing or rubbing over a surface rather than one which scrapes off or scratches out the surface. The court held, however, that the term “brushes” in the tariff act was not a use designation but an eo nomine designation,1 and that the article was a brush within the common meaning of that term. The court stated (51 Cust. Ct. at 157) :

Funk & Wagnalls New Standard Dictionary defines the noun, “brush,” as follows:
An implement made of bristles, hair, feathers, broom-corn, sea-grass, or other fibrous and .flexible material, fixed to a handle or a back, and intended to be swept or rubbed over surfaces: for cleansing, furbishing, smoothing, applying colors or varnish, etc.
In Webster’s New International Dictionary, there appears the following definition:
brushy n. * * * 1. A device composed of bristles, vegetable fibers, wire, or the like, set in a suitable back or handle of wood, ivory, metal, or the like, and used for cleaning, scrubbing, painting, etc.
The Encyclopaedia Britannica includes the following comprehensive definition of “Wire Brushes”:
Using metal wire for the brush material, these include flue brushes, brushes for cleaning butchers’ blocks and the steel surfaces of boilers, as well as castings in the foundry. These may be hand-drawn, staple set, or twisted-in-wire, or steel-gript. [Emphasis in original.]
Maple and birch are chiefly used for the backs, galvanized steel wire for the twisted-in-wire handles, and also different gauges of wire for filling the wooden handles or stocks.
Under the foregoing definitions, the article involved herein is a brush, and, more particularly, a steel wire brush. The essential elements of the quoted definitions can be attributable very readily to the brush in question, consisting, as it does, of a wooden head, sufficiently long to serve not only as the handle but also as the block in which are set the strands, or tufts, of steel wire. Directly applicable to the present merchandise is the cited definition of “wire brushes,” and of particular significance, in the light of plaintiff’s testimony, hereinabove set forth in detail, is the reference therein to “brushes for cleaning butchers’ blocks.”

Since the earlier case the tariff schedules have replaced the Tariff Act of 1930. However, the term “brushes” was kept unchanged. From this it would seem obvious that the term was intended to have the same meaning under the tariff schedules as under the prior act. Thus the question here is still the same as in the earlier case — whether [157]*157or not the imported article is a brush.

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Related

International Polyethylene Bag Co. v. United States
65 Cust. Ct. 155 (U.S. Customs Court, 1970)
Flex Track Equipment, Ltd. v. United States
65 Cust. Ct. 119 (U.S. Customs Court, 1970)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
64 Cust. Ct. 153, 1970 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 3191, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dollar-trading-corp-v-united-states-cusc-1970.