Jett v. United States

18 C.C.P.A. 86, 1930 CCPA LEXIS 58
CourtCourt of Customs and Patent Appeals
DecidedMay 12, 1930
DocketNo. 3289
StatusPublished

This text of 18 C.C.P.A. 86 (Jett v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Customs and Patent Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Jett v. United States, 18 C.C.P.A. 86, 1930 CCPA LEXIS 58 (ccpa 1930).

Opinion

LeNeoot, Judge,

delivered tbe opinion of the court:

This is an appeal from a judgment of the United States Customs Court overruling the protests of appellant herein.

The merchandise consists of certain machines which were classified by the collector and assessed for duty at 35 per centum ad valorem under the provision of paragraph 372, Tariff Act of 1922, reading: "all other textile machinery or parts thereof, finished or unfinished, not specially provided for, 35 per centum ad valorem."

Appellant protested, claiming the merchandise to be properly dutiable at 30 per centum ad valorem under the provision of said paragraph 372 reading: “all other machines or parts thereof, finished or unfinished, not specially provided for."

The lower court overruled, the protests, and sustained the classification of the collector.

A brief signed by the firm of Blackman, Pratt & King, attorneys for the Celanese Corporation of America, and Addison S. Pratt, of counsel, acting as amicus curix, was filed in this case and has been considered by us.

The pertinent provisions of said paragraph 372 read as follows:

Par. 372. * * * knitting, braiding, lace braiding, and insulating machines, and all other similar textile machinery or parts thereof, finished or unfinished, not specially provided for, 40 per centum ad valorem; all other textile machinery or parts thereof, finished or unfinished, not specially provided for, 35 per centum ad valorem; * * * all other machines or parts thereof, finished or unfinished, not specially provided for, 30 per centum ad valorem; * * *.

There is but one question before us for determination and that is whether the merchandise in issue is "textile machinery or parts thereof.” If it is not, the Government concedes that the protests of appellant should be sustained.

We think that the machines are correctly described in the opinion of the court below as follows:

It appears from the record that the machines under consideration are integral parts of an installation which treats raw material, cotton linters, through various [88]*88stages to produce a yarn used in the production of textiles. The entire plant ■consists of pipe lines, pumps, motors, and numerous individual machines, some of which are of American manufacture and others imported.
The particular machines involved herein receive the material after it has been ■cleaned and washed and subject it to heating, bleaching, refining, and other chemical processes to obtain a material which is further processed by machines of American manufacture ultimately producing a yarn used in the manufacture of textiles.

The functions performed by the machines in issue are described in appellant’s brief as follows:

The testimony shows that cotton linters are taken as a raw material, and are subjected to treatments of washing and bleaching, for the purpose of removing most of the noncellulose contents, before the material resulting from those treatments is used in an imported device.
The cotton linters, which have been subjected to such preliminary and preparatory treatments, are then immersed in a solution of chemicals in one of the imported devices (Exhibit 1, Record, p. 44), which consists of a large tank or •“kier” and a “preheater,” which are connected to each other by pipe lines, through all of which the liquor is kept in circulation by means of an electrically driven pump. The complete device was imported. The result of the operation of this device, and that of another device, not in issue, to remove water from the material, is Illustrative Exhibit D.
Then the second of the imported devices (Exhibit 2, Record, p. 47) is used to stir or to agitate the material in a tank with a vertical shaft upon which are paddles which rotate between fixed arms on the tank. The complete device was imported; the result of its operation is Illustrative Exhibit E.
The material is then subjected to similar treatment in another imported device of similar construction (Exhibit 3, Record, p. 48). The completé device was imported; the result of its operation is the same as that of Exhibit 2, except it is “more refined.”
The material then “goes through several other tanks and clarifying machines,” which were not imported, after which it is subjected to treatment in the next two imported devices (Exhibits 4 and 5, Record, pp. 50 and 51), which are very large power-driven mixers that work on the same principles as Exhibits 2 and 3. They are used to make the material more uniform by mixing together several batches from previous processings. Both of them are imported complete; their ultimate product is shown by Illustrative Exhibit G.
Illustrative Exhibit G is “the copper-ammonia solution with cellulose, which is now finished” (Record, p. 52). It is ready to be formed into filaments. Up to this point the operations have been essentially chemical; they have been induced, facilitated, hastened, or perfected by the physical treatment in the various mechanical devices. Although the underlying principles of the cupram-monium process are well known to those versed in artificial silk technology, the witness did not care to disclose, for obvious reasons, the exact manner i.n which it is carried out in his factory.
The material is then manipulated in another imported device, a so-called ■spinning machine (Exhibit 6, Record, p. 53). The function of this machine is to force the material represented by Illustrative Exhibit G through small orifices into a coagulating bath and the resulting filaments are stretched and reeled. This device was also imported complete. The result of its operation is shown by Illustrative Exhibit I.
Illustrative Exhibit I shows the condition of the material at the stage to which it has been processed by using all of the imported devices and some other devices [89]*89not in issue. In that condition it is processed only partially; it is not artificial silk; it is not a commercial salable product; it will not remain in that condition very long because of the destructive effect of chemicals still present and which have to be removed by further processing. The testimony and exhibits explain the subsequent steps in processing the material to the point of its becoming, ultimately, artificial silk yarn.

We would first observe that it is conceded, and the testimony clearly shows, that none of the machines in question is used for the purpose of washing, cleaning, or bleaching the cotton linters which are the raw material employed in the manufacture of artificial silk yarn, which is clearly a textile material. Therefore the case of Passaic Worsted Co. et al. v. United States, 17 C. C. P. A. 459, T. D. 43916, in which it was held that certain machines used in cleaning wool were not textile machines, does not in any way aid appellant’s contention that the machines in issue are not textile machines.

' The cotton linters, which are the raw material for the manufacture of artificial silk yarn, are textile fiber.

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Bluebook (online)
18 C.C.P.A. 86, 1930 CCPA LEXIS 58, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jett-v-united-states-ccpa-1930.