Esso Standard Oil Co. v. United States

29 Cust. Ct. 35, 1952 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 1407
Procedural entryThis page is a short order in Esso Standard Oil Co. v. United States. Read the opinion of the Court — 30 Cust. Ct. 111
United States Customs Court·Decided July 7, 1952·No. C. D. 1441·Published

Opinion

Cole, Judge:

Merchandise described on the invoice as “Synthetic Stylene,” and known in the trade as “S-Polymer” (the designation hereinafter used), was classified by the collector under paragraph 28 of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U. S. C. § 1001, par. 28), and assessed with duty at 45 per centum ad valorem and 7 cents per pound. In support of the official action, defendant relies on the part of said paragraph reading:

Par. 28. Coal-tar products:
* * *; synthetic phenolic resin and all resin-like products, prepared from phenol, cresol, phthalic anhydride, coumarone, indene, or from any other article or material provided for in paragraph 27 or 1651, all these products whether in a solid, semisolid, or liquid condition; * * * all the foregoing products provided for in this paragraph, when obtained, derived, or manufactured in whole or in part from any of the products provided for in paragraph 27 or 1651; * * * .

The Government contends, first, that the merchandise in question was prepared in part from benzene, one of the products mentioned in [37]*37paragraph 1651 of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U. S. C. § 1201, par. 1651), and alternatively claims that the S-Polymer before the court was prepared in part from styrene, a product occurring naturally in coal tar and provided for in said paragraph 1651 under the general provision for “all other materials or products that are found naturally in coal tar.”

Plaintiff makes several claims. Free entry, either as bitumen under paragraph 1710 of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U. S. C. § 1201, par. 1710), or as paraffin, directly under paragraph 1733 of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U. S. C. § 1201, par. 1733), or by similitude under paragraph 1559 of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U. S. C. § 1001, par. 1559), but subject to an internal revenue tax of 1% cents per pound under section 3422 of the Internal Revenue Code (26 U. S. C. § 3422), as amended by the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, 82 Treas. Dec. 305, T. D. 51802, are argued for most vigorously. Classification is also urged as synthetic rubber, dutiable at 10 per centum ad valorem, either directly under paragraph 1558 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended by T. D. 51802, supra, or by similitude under paragraph 1559, supra, and an alternative claim is made for classification as a nonenumerated manufactured article under paragraph 1558 of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U. S. C. § 1001, par. 1558), dutiable at 20 per centum ad valorem. Although the protest also alleges that the merchandise is entitled to free entry under paragraph 1796 of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U. S. C. § 1201, par. 1796), as wax, not specially provided for, that claim has been abandoned.

The record consists of most interesting and highly technical testimony from 15 witnesses — 4 on behalf of plaintiff and 11 for defendant — and documentary exhibits, as well as samples of the merchandise in question. Phases of the proof, we deem important, will be referred to as discussion of the various issues proceeds.

S-Polymer, the subject of the present controversy, is prepared from styrene and isobutylene, mixed together and co-polymerized (chemically reacted) at a low temperature in the presence of a catalyst, resulting in long chain molecules and ending in a reactor in solution. The solution is mixed in hot water, vaporizing all materials not reacted and leaving the co-polymer dispensed as a slurry (watery or semifluid mixture) in hot water. The slurry is filtered to remove most of the water, leaving the crumb (indicative of the crumbled condition) which is dried. During the process of drying, particles tend to fuse together so the crumb is run through a cutting machine to produce the imported merchandise (plaintiff’s exhibit 1 and 2), consisting of 60 per centum styrene and 40 per centum isobutylene, recognized as S-60, to distinguish it from substantially the same co-polymer known as S-50 (defendant’s illustrative exhibits A and B), produced in pellet form [38]*38(small cubes) and containing an equal quantity of tbe two raw materials, styrene and isobutylene.

Tbe foregoing description of S-Polymer is substantially as was given by plaintiff's witness, Stanley Edward Jaros, a cbemical engineer in tbe employ of tbe Standard Oil Development Co. (an affiliate of tbe Standard Oil Co. of New Jersey), wbo began research on S-Polymer in 1943. In 1946, wben it was learned tbat plant facilities were available at tbe Polymer Corporation in Sarnia, Ontario, Canada, tbe place of exportation of tbe present merchandise, tbe witness, assuming full responsibility for tbe undertaking, changed existing equipment and installed new, permitting production at the said plant which began operations in 1947, approximately 1 year before tbe shipment under consideration was exported.

Tbe major question here is whether or not S-Polymer is synthetic phenolic resin or a resin-like product of a class or a kind contemplated by paragraph 28, supra.

Plaintiff’s proof in this connection includes tbe testimony of Dr. Herman E. Marks, an eminently qualified chemist, whose experience includes several years of study and research with polymers, natural and synthetic, concerning their preparation, structures, and properties, and also with resins or resin-like substances prepared from phenol, cresol, phthalic anhydride, coumarone, or indene, particularly on projects dealing with the reactions of phenol with formaldehyde, cresol with formaldehyde, and urea with formaldehyde. At present, and since 1940, he is professor of organic chemistry at Polytechnic Institute in Brooklyn, N. Y., and also chairman of the Polymer Research Institute, a part of the chemistry department in Polytechnic Institute, devoted to the teaching of research into high polymers. His association with S-Polymer began about “four or five years ago” when he received samples from which determinations were made of molecular weight, solubility, X-ray diffraction, and the mechanical properties of the commodity. We give considerable weight to his testimony.

Asked to explain how he determines whether a material is a resin or resin-like product, the witness answered this way:

I would like to say perhaps the words resin and plastics have been used — and still are being used to some extent — interchangeably. I don’t think that should be. There are definite and clear distinctions. And I would like to enumerate them in such a manner to say that a typical resin is an organic substance of low-molecular weight, say, between 500 and 1500 — referring to hydrogen as 1, or oxygen — ’that is as far as the molecular weight is concerned — -as far as the shape or configuration is concerned, it is usually irregular.

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Esso Standard Oil Co. v. United States, 29 Cust. Ct. 35, 1952 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 1407 (cusc 1952).

29 Cust. Ct. 35 (Esso Standard Oil Co. v. United States) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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