Gamble Vargish & Co. v. Untied States

57 Cust. Ct. 448, 1966 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 1700
CourtUnited States Customs Court
DecidedNovember 29, 1966
DocketC.D. 2834
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 57 Cust. Ct. 448 (Gamble Vargish & Co. v. Untied 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
Gamble Vargish & Co. v. Untied States, 57 Cust. Ct. 448, 1966 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 1700 (cusc 1966).

Opinion

WatsoN, Judge:

The involved protests which were consolidated for trial cover certain miniature electric motors, some with pinion gears and others with worm gears, with or without leads attached. The articles in question were classified at. the rate of 35 per centum ad valorem under paragraph 1513 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as modified by the Japanese Protocol of Terms of Accession to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, T.D. 53865, supplemented by T.D. 53877, as parts of toys, not specially provided for. Plaintiff makes two claims in these protests: for classification under paragraph 353 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as modified by the Torquay Protocol to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, T.D. 52739, at the rate of 12% per centum ad valorem, as articles having as an essential feature an electrical element or device, “electric motors,” or, alternatively, under said paragraph 353, as modified, supra, at the rate of 13% per centum ad valorem under the provision therein for articles having as an essential feature an electrical element or device, “other.”

At the trial, the record in Polks Model Craft Hobbies, Inc., et al. v. United States, 38 Cust. Ct. 422, Abstract 60545 (protest 299587-K) was incorporated herein. (R. 18.) In the incorporated case, the merchandise consisted of certain electric motors which were classified under paragraph 1513 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as modified, as toys, not specially provided for, and which were claimed properly classifiable under paragraph 353 of the act, as modified, as articles “having as an essential feature an electrical element or device * * The court therein found that the merchandise in question was not used for [450]*450the amusement of children and that the electric motors there in question were chiefly used for adults, possessing technical knowledge concerning the basic principles of electricity, in the manufacture or construction of various electrical products. Since it was stipulated in that case that the involved electric motors had as an essential feature an electrical element or device and that they were in chief value of metal, the claim of the plaintiff was sustained. Defendant, in the case at bar, agrees, in view of the holdings of this court in the cases of Polks Model Craft Hobbies, Inc., et al. v. United States, supra; James G. Wiley Co. et al. v. United States, 49 Cust. Ct. 199, Abstract 66961; and H. H. Elder & Co. et al. v. United States, 48 Cust. Ct. 897, Abstract 66651, that the classification here made of the involved merchandise under paragraph 1513 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as modified, as parts of toys was erroneous. Specifically, however, defendant does not concede the propriety of plaintiff’s claim under paragraph 353, supra, at the 12% per centum ad valorem rate for “electric motors” and now contends that the involved merchandise, as imported, is more than an electric motor and, accordingly, that it is properly dutiable under said paragraph 353 of the act, as modified, supra, at the rate of 13% per centum ad valorem, as alternatively claimed by the plaintiff herein.

The pertinent provisions of the statutes here under consideration are as follows:

Paragraph 353 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as modified by T.D. 52739, provides in necessary part:
Articles having as an essential feature an electrical element or device, * * * finished or unfinished, wholly or in chief value of metal, and not specially provided for:
# % s}: * ❖ ❖ #
Electric motors, furnaces, heaters and ovens_ 12%% ad val.
Other (except * * *)-13%% ad val.

The record herein consists of the unrebutted testimony of Mr. Reuben Dight, sales manager and partner, “in the import side” of the business of Seabury & Co., plaintiff herein (R. 3) ; two exhibits; and the record and exhibits in the Polks Model Craft case, supra, incorporated herein. Plaintiff’s illustrative exhibit 1 (R. 5) consists of a sample identical to the motors without leads and with pinion gear (R. 4). It appears that the only difference between this sample and the remaining motors here in question is that some had leads and/or a worm gear (R. 4). Defendant’s exhibit A (R. 14) consists of a small vacuum cleaner for cleaning car seats (R. 12). It has a motor identical to plaintiff’s illustrative exhibit 1 with the exception that the [451]*451stand or base on exhibit A is a different type stand than that on plaintiff’s exhibit 1 (E. 13).

Plaintiff’s witness stated that he has been familiar with motors such as those in plaintiff’s exhibit 1 for some 30 years. Exhibit 1 runs on d.c. electrical current from a battery (E. 6). He testified that he has seen identical motors used in electric fans and in electric vacuum cleaners (E. 7). The witness further stated, after viewing the exhibits in the incorporated case, supra (protest 299587-K), that the miniature motor in plaintiff’s exhibit 1 is the same type as the motors in the exhibits in the incorporated case and is operated in the same way (E. 8). Mr. Dight testified that the “stand” or base with the four little holes on plaintiff’s exhibit 1, is a “fixing stand” for attachment purposes (E. 10-11), “merely used to fasten the motor to something,” the stand serving no purpose except as a support (E. 13); that most of the motors in the exhibits in protest 299587-K, the incorporated case, do not have stands or bases (E. 12) except for the motor in plaintiff’s exhibits 1 and 15 in said case, the latter of which is an electric rotisserie turner (E. 15). The witness stated, however, that the motors in the exhibits in the incorporated case are the same as the motor in plaintiff’s exhibit 1 in the case at bar (E. 13); that the motor in exhibit 1 in the incorporated case is the same motor (E. 15-17) made by the same manufacturer (E. 16) as plaintiff’s exhibit 1 in the present case, except that one has a light metal covering and the other has a brass metal covering. In addition, plaintiff’s exhibit 1 in the present case has a gear (E. 15). Mr. Dight stated, however, that the presence of the gear on plaintiff’s exhibit 1, in the case at bar, does not limit its use any differently than that of exhibit 1 in the incorporated case. (E. 15-17.)

Essentially the question to be resolved, in the case at bar, is whether the presence of the pinion or worm gears on the imported motors makes them something “more than” a “motor” for tariff purposes. The defendant concedes that the involved merchandise is properly classifiable under paragraph 353 of the tariff act, as “articles having as an essential feature an electrical element or device” but, as heretofore indicated, contends that it is not properly dutiable as such at the rate of 12y2 per centum ad valorem under the provision in said paragraph for “electric motors,” as claimed, but that it should be classified at the rate of 13% per centum ad valorem under the provision in said paragraph 353 for “other” articles than the “electric motors” specifically provided for in said paragraph.

Plaintiff, in its brief (p. 4), maintains that “The gear on exhibit 1 herein, having been attached to the motor prior to importation has become a part of the motor,” contending in effect that the presence of the gears on the imported motors does not render the latter anything more than a motor. In this connection, our attention is directed [452]*452to the holding of the court in United States v.

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Bluebook (online)
57 Cust. Ct. 448, 1966 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 1700, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gamble-vargish-co-v-untied-states-cusc-1966.