Electric Welding Co. v. Pittsburgh School District

142 A.2d 433, 186 Pa. Super. 243
CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedJune 11, 1958
DocketAppeal, No. 7
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 142 A.2d 433 (Electric Welding Co. v. Pittsburgh School District) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Superior Court of Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Electric Welding Co. v. Pittsburgh School District, 142 A.2d 433, 186 Pa. Super. 243 (Pa. Ct. App. 1958).

Opinion

Opinion by

Woodside, J.,

This is an appeal from a judgment of the County Court of Allegheny County sustaining an appeal of [245]*245the Electric Welding Company from a mercantile tax assessment made by the School District of Pittsburgh.

Both the decision and the statutory law which govern this case were reviewed by v. in Koolvent Aluminum Awning Co. of Pittsburgh v. Pittsburgh, 186 Pa. Superior Ct. 233, and we see no reason to repeat here what we said there.

An examination of the findings of the court below convinces v. that its conclusion was correct. In order to explain the operation of the Electric Welding Company we shall quote from the findings of President Judge Lencher, and in doing so we shall substitute “company” for “appellant” to avoid the confusion which might arise from the fact that the appellant in the county court is the appellee here.

The court below found: “Electric Welding Company is a corporation under the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, with its administrative office located in the Sherwyn Hotel Building, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and its operating plant or shop situated in the Borough of Canonsburg, Washington County ...”

The company “is engaged in the business of engineering and the application of certain separate plant operations to steel materials from which are obtained concrete reinforcing steel products which are sold to corporations and individuals engaged in the construction of concrete highways, buildings and bridges. The company’s products are (a) concrete reinforcing bars, (b) load transfer units, (e) column spirals, (d) special reinforcing assemblies, (e) wire mesh, Avhich the company concedes is not a manufactured product.

“When an order is obtained from a customer, it is sent to the company’s engineering department. An engineer, trained in concrete design, both through formal education in Avhich an academic degree in engineering Avas conferred and through practical experience, [246]*246calls personally on the customer or the customer’s engineer or architect and obtains from the general construction plans and specifications of the highway, building or bridge to be constructed the necessary detailed information as to sizes, shapes, forms and dimensions for the required products ordered by the customer. From this detailed information, shop drawings are made by a draftsman trained for this type of work. The shop drawings are then submitted to the customer for approval by the customer’s engineer or architect. Following such approval, the shop drawings are sent to company’s Canonsburg plant. The plant foreman selects from steel inventory the necessary materials and directs the plant workmen in the operations of shearing, bending, forming, fitting, welding and assembling of the materials in compliance with the directions and instructions of the shop drawings to obtain the finished product. The company is required, from time to time, to initially design a concrete steel reinforcing product for the particular need of a customer in those instances where a customer does not furnish a design. Company maintains an inventory of raw materials at its plant consisting of plain and deformed mill steel bars, steel rods, steel channels, steel plates, asphalt asbestos expansion boards and steel wire. Company purchases its steel materials from the Jones & Laughlin Steel Company and United States Steel Corporation.

(a) “Concrete reinforcing bars are designed products for a particular use in the construction of highways, buildings or bridges wherein concrete is a part of the structure. The purpose of concrete reinforcing bars is to strengthen the concrete at specific areas and points of the concrete structure. The reinforcing bars are arranged in place and secured as shown by the construction plans and then concrete is poured around [247]*247the bars. When the concrete hardens, the bars become part of the solidified mass thereby adding strength to the hardened concrete. When an order from a customer for concrete reinforcing bars is obtained, it is sent to company’s engineering department. A trained engineer studies the general plans and specifications for the concrete structure and obtains all necessary details as to the design, size and dimensions of the concrete reinforcing bars required for the construction. Shop drawings are made by a draftsman from the detailed information obtained by company’s engineer and these shop drawings are sent to the foreman at the plant. In accordance with the shop drawings, steel bars of the specified diameters, either plain or deformed, are selected from inventory which are then sent through the operations of shearing, bending and forming to obtain the finished product. Concrete reinforcing bars are specifically engineered, sheared, bent and formed for a particular concrete structure and are not usable for general purposes of reinforcing concrete. The company does not maintain a stock supply of finished concrete reinforcing bars. Reinforcing bars are sold to a customer only in accordance with the customer’s design and specifications . . . The company maintains an inventory of raw materials for the reinforcing bars. The materials are mill steel bars, plain and deformed, measuring 60 feet in length and of various diameters.

(b) “Load transfer units are designed products for a particular use in the construction of concrete highways. Load transfer units are put into place transversely on the subgrade of the highway as shown on the general construction plans. The units provide a jointure for two continuous concrete slabs. The purpose of the load transfer units is to transfer the rolling load from one concrete slab to the other, to permit [248]*248expansion and contraction of the concrete slabs which is caused by the extremes of weather temperatures, and to prevent disalignment, cracking or splitting of the concrete [the engineering work and drafting is done by the company as outlined in paragraph (a) above]. In accordance with the shop drawings, steel bars of the specified diameters, steel plates and expansion boards are selected from inventory and sent through the operations of shearing the bars, shearing the expansion board, bending the bars, cutting, bending and punching the stake pocket, punching steel plates, assembling, and welding to obtain the finished product. The expansion boards are shipped to the job site and there attached to the units so as to prevent breakage of the board in transit. Load transfer units which are also called transverse dowel assemblies are specifically engineered for a particular highway construction. Their use is limited to the purpose for which designed and are not usable for any other concrete highway construction. The company does not maintain a stock supply of finished load transfer units. They are sold to a customer only in accordance with the customer’s plans and specifications . . . The company maintains an inventory of raw materials for the load transfer units. The materials are steel bars, steel plates, asphalt expansion boards, and steel channels.

(c) “Column spirals are designed products for a particular use in concrete building and bridge pier construction. Column spirals are used to reinforce the concrete columns or bridge piers which support the Structure. The spirals are set in place in accordance with the construction plans and then concrete is poured around the spiral. When the concrete hardens, the spiral becomes an integral part of the concrete mass of the column or pier . . .

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Related

Pittsburgh v. Electric Welding Co.
145 A.2d 528 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1958)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
142 A.2d 433, 186 Pa. Super. 243, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/electric-welding-co-v-pittsburgh-school-district-pasuperct-1958.