John V. Carr & Son, Inc. v. United States

40 Cust. Ct. 292
United States Customs Court·Decided May 21, 1958·No. C. D. 1996·Published·Cited by 16 cases

Opinion

Rao, Judge:

Several models of a mechanism for automatically feeding sheets of paper into printing presses, together with a so-called press drive for another of such models, form the subject of the within controversy. This merchandise was classified upon entry as machines or parts thereof, not specially provided for, and, accordingly, was assessed with duty at the rate of 13% per centum ad valorem, pursuant to the provisions of paragraph 372 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as modified by the Torquay Protocol to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, 86 Treas. Dec. 121, T. D. 52739.

It is claimed by the plaintiffs that the imported articles are more properly provided for in said paragraph 372, as modified, supra, supplemented by T. D. 52820, as “Printing machinery (except for textiles and except duplicating machines other than printing presses),” and/or parts thereof, at the rate of 12% per centum ad valorem.

The invoice descriptions of the particular models and parts imported are as follows:

One EIless-Feeder, type 55 R, for Silk Screen Machine max. paper size 19)4” x 25%”
One Elless-feeder, type T 64 R, for Miehle 5/0 two rev. press One Elless Feeder for Miehle 2/0 two rev. press
One Pressdrive complete with long Drive shaft for Elless Feeder No. 51109
One Side Frame No. 18671

With the exception of the aforementioned side frame, these items are pictorially represented in the record by plaintiffs’ illustrative exhibits 1, 2, 3, and 4, respectively.

Plaintiffs also introduced the testimony of one Carl Williams, vice president and general manager of Super Speed Printing Machinery, Inc., the ultimate consignee of the merchandise here involved. He stated that his firm is engaged in the business of selling machinery for the graphic arts industry and that his function is to generally supervise [294] the conduct of the business, including all the machinery purchased and sold by the company.

During the 10 years he has been associated with the firm, Williams has had close personal experience with the type of merchandise involved in this case. He has helped to adapt the units for the American market, has written several trade journal articles describing their application and uses, has sold and installed them, and has operated and used them in Cleveland, Buffalo, and New York. Although he is not a mechanical engineer, the witness has studied mechanics at Ohio University and while in military service.

Williams described the subject merchandise as “a mechanical device designed to feed paper or any material which is to be printed into a printing press.” He stated that it is driven by the press, and, by a process of suction and blast, it picks up individual sheets of paper and forwards them to the printing section of the press. The feeder is geared into the printing press by a drive shaft, as depicted in plaintiffs’ exhibit 5, and is timed to synchronize with the revolutions of the press, so that it will deposit a sheet of paper at the precise moment when the type is in impression position.

So far as the merchandise before the court is concerned, the witness testified that he knew of no other use for it than in connection with a specific printing press, since each feeder unit is specially geared to a particular model and size of printing press, and is not adjustable. “The factory provides the proper gear with the proper number of teeth which will revolve in connection with the cylinder gear on the press.” However, the factory does produce Efiess feeders which can be used to feed machines for folding paper and cutting and creasing machines.

Williams further stated that printing presses usually have some kind of automatic feeder attachment and that it is not commercially feasible, in volume production, to hand-feed a printing press. Most printing establishments do, however, maintain a hand-fed press for short-run jobs.

In the opinion of this witness, who admittedly is not a printer, it is not practicable to hand-feed a press, if the automatic feeder should break down, and, to his knowledge, this has never been done. He was also of opinion that a feeder is a part of a printing press, and that cylinder presses utilizing sheets of paper, 19 by 25 inches, and in wider widths up to 75 inches, could not be purchased without an automatic feeder of some kind.

According to this witness, Elless feeders may be incorporated into any type of cylinder press. They may be substituted for a feeder already in the press, or may displace a manual operation. They are also used with offset presses, as shown in plaintiffs’ illustrative exhibit [295]*2956, which type of press cannot be hand-fed, and with silk screen presses. The feeders do not process textiles or other material. They operate only upon some form of paper.

Defendant called as its only witness Grant L. Pitman, a cylinder pressman in the printing department of Patterson Sargent Paints. It appears, from his testimony, that he has been in the printing business since 1910, having worked successively as a feeder, assistant pressman, and, for the last 20 to 25 years, as pressman in charge. During that time, he has been engaged in every form of operation related to cylinder and job press work for commercial shops. He has manually fed paper to presses, has seen presses operated with automatic feeders, and is personally familiar with the so-called Elless feeder.

He stated that his employer’s plant has an Elless feeder for its Miehle press, which was bought to replace a feeder that had broken, and that the object of any feeder is to “up the time of production.” By that, he meant, it increases production over the manual operation, by speedier feeding and by enabling one man to watch a “couple of automatic presses where one man used to hand-feed one press.”

In contrast to plaintiffs’ witness Williams, Pitman was of opinion that a Miehle press could be manually fed, if the automatic feeder fails, and he has seen it done. All that is necessary is to disengage the automatic feeder by a clutch system. This stops the feeder, and the press can be operated manually. On this phase of the case, Pitman testified further as follows:

Cross-Examination By Mb. Tompkins:

X Q. Do you have to make any adjustments when you put in the clutch and stop using the feeder on a Miehle press? — A. There is a rod on what’s called the feeder side. There is a gear side and a feeder side. There is a rod that’s disconnected automatically and that feeder will not operate until it’s brought back into motion, which is done at three different points, three different points of contact will automatically trip the press. The press will not run until there is arrangements made and this clutch is either in or out, if you want to start up the feeder or leave the feeder stand. The press itself meantime will operate.
X Q. The press will operate but will it operate and turn out large volumes of work in the same time without the feeder? — A. Absolutely not, with the understanding that your feeder is set and operating you are bound to make more time mechanically than you will hand feeding.
X Q. So for practical purposes the feeder is used for commercial runs?— A. I would say so, for runs of any kind the feeder — well, it’s the trend today.

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John V. Carr & Son, Inc. v. United States, 40 Cust. Ct. 292 (cusc 1958).

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