Industrial Raw Materials Corp. v. United States

36 Cust. Ct. 192
CourtUnited States Customs Court
DecidedApril 19, 1956
DocketC. D. 1774
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 36 Cust. Ct. 192 (Industrial Raw Materials 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
Industrial Raw Materials Corp. v. United States, 36 Cust. Ct. 192 (cusc 1956).

Opinion

WilsoN, Judge:

Certain material, invoiced as “Micro Crystalline Wax Compound No. 6582,” was classified by tbe collector as “synthetic resin” under paragraph 11 of the Tariff Act of 1930 and assessed with duty at 4 cents per pound, plus 30 per centum ad valorem.

The principal claim of the plaintiff is that the involved merchandise is properly classifiable as a mineral wax, and, as such, should be held free of duty under paragraph 1796 of the Tariff Act of 1930. Plaintiff also makes the following alternative claims under said act: That the material involved (1) is properly free of duty under paragraph 1733 as a paraffin, but taxable under section 3422 of the Internal Revenue Code, as amended; (2) is dutiable at 20 per centum ad valo-rem under paragraph 1536 as a manufacture of wax; (3) is dutiable at 25 per centum ad valorem under paragraph 5 as a mixture of chemical compounds; (4) is dutiable under paragraph 1558 at the rate of 20 per centum ad valorem as a nonenumerated manufactured article.

The principal issue before us, however, is whether the involved material is a wax product, as contended by the plaintiff, or a synthetic resin, as classified.

[194]*194At the outset of the trial, the following stipulation was dictated into the record:

Mr. Pickrell: It has been stipulated with counsel for the Government, that the imported merchandise'which is the subject of this protest, is a mixture composed of approximately fifty percent polyethylene and approximately fifty percent petroleum wax.
Mr. Weil: So stipulated.
Mr. Pickrell: It is further stipulated that the imported merchandise was mixed or blended by heating and agitating after importation in the plant of the plaintiff herein at kyndhurst, New Jersey, with mieroerystalline petroleum wax in the proportion of approximately six parts of the said importation and approximately 94 parts of mieroerystalline petroleum wax, that this mix or blend was mixed or blended by heating and agitating in the plant of the plaintiff herein with paraffin wax in the proportions of approximately fifty parts of this mixture or blend and approximately fifty parts of paraffin wax, and that a use of the last mix or blend is for coating sulphite paper for wrapping bread.
Mr. Weil: The Government so stipulates. (R. 3-4.)

During the course of the trial, a large number of exhibits were introduced in evidence. Plaintiff's collective exhibit 1 consists of a sample, admittedly taken from the importation now under consideration; illustrative exhibit 2 is a piece of printed paper, coated with a blend or mixture, described in the stipulation of the parties (R. 8); illustrative exhibit 3 is a sample of paraffin wax (R. 41); illustrative exhibit 4 is mieroerystalline wax (R. 43); illustrative exhibit 5 consists of crude beeswax (R. 46); and illustrative exhibit 6 is a sample of polyethylene (R. 47). Defendant’s exhibits will be referred to hereinafter as the discussion of the case requires.

Plaintiff’s first witness was Cyril S. Kimball, the recipient of a bachelor of science degree from the University of Rhode Island in 1926, with chemistry as his major subject, who, at the time of the trial, was employed as vice president of Foster D. Snell, Inc., consulting chemist and chemical engineer in New York City. He had done “development work on chemical specialities, waxes, polishes, adhesives, coatings, and allied materials” and had had considerable experience in handling and analyzing various types of waxes over a period of years (R. 10-15). On one occasion, at the request of the United States, he had made a special blend of polyethylene and mieroerystalline wax (R. 17).

Mr. Kimball testified that he had made analytical tests on a sample of the imported merchandise (plaintiff’s collective exhibit 1). From these tests, he reached the following conclusions: The melting point of the sample was between 210° F. and 215° F.; the material in question exhibited crystallinity, but, unlike synthetic resins, was not brittle; the sample was tough, but did not have fracture. While the witness stated that he was unable to make a complete separation of the components in the imported product, he testified that, based upon [195]*195tbe tests made, the imported substance was a wax because “it has crystallinity, it is thermo-plastic and has the appearance and feel of a wax” (R. 25).

Conversely, Mr. Kimball was of the opinion that the imported merchandise is not a synthetic resin, because it has crystallinity, has wax characteristics, and is not amorphous, all of which, he stated, are not characteristics of a resin.

On cross-examination, the witness stated that while polyethylene may be a wax, it is not always a wax; that it is least waxlike as the molecular weight increases; and that it becomes a plastic material, a polymer, and a grease, but that, in his opinion, it never becomes a resin (R. 64). He did not test the imported merchandise for viscosity, nor had he made any tests to determine its elongation, strength, or toughness.

Dr. Charles L. Mantell, called on behalf of the plaintiff, testified that, from 1922 to 1937, he was professor of chemical engineering at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn and, at the time of trial, held the same position at Newark College of Engineering. He had been engaged continuously as a consulting chemical engineer in the city of New York since 1924. The witness had written extensively for scientific periodicals and was the author of a textbook on electric chemistry as well as one on natural resins.

Dr. Mantell stated that he had had wide experience with waxes, by reason of his employment with wax-producing companies. He testified that, in his opinion, polyethylene was a polymerized material, but not a resin, because—

* * * there is one characteristic of resins in that they are commonly in close relationship in their chemical composition. The polymers of which polyethylene is typical are linear in their composition or structure and therefore are different from the resins.

Plaintiff’s witness gave the following summary, relative to tests made on plaintiff’s collective exhibit 1:

Chemical tests were run on the solubility of the sample in coal-tar solvents and other solvents in which many of the waxes of the more common type show ready solubility. The sample did not show * * * appreciable solubility in the cold but was readily soluble in hot solutions of benzol and toluol. When the solution was cooled the material was dispersed in a manner similar to that of beeswax and showed better dispersibility than carnauba.
Paraffin, micro crystalline wax, and japan wax showed solubility in these solvents while cold as well as hot. Beeswax and carnauba showed incomplete solubility in the cold, are soluble while hot, and after cooling showed dispersibility. Polyethylene did not show solubility in the cold but did show solubility in the hot.
The sample showed solubility characteristics of the same type as beeswax and carnauba. * * *
Tests were made on paraffin, cereese wax and the sample. The electrical resistance of paraffin wax under these conditions was 800,000 ohms, of micro-[196]*196crystalline wax, 800,000 ohms and the electrical resistance of the sample was 810,000 ohms. * * * (R. 100-101.)

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Bluebook (online)
36 Cust. Ct. 192, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/industrial-raw-materials-corp-v-united-states-cusc-1956.