Joslyn Mfg. & Supply Co. v. United States

3 Cust. Ct. 49, 1939 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 1752
CourtUnited States Customs Court
DecidedAugust 14, 1939
DocketC. D. 200
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 3 Cust. Ct. 49 (Joslyn Mfg. & Supply Co. 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
Joslyn Mfg. & Supply Co. v. United States, 3 Cust. Ct. 49, 1939 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 1752 (cusc 1939).

Opinion

Dallinger, Judge:

This is a suit against the United States, arising at the subport of Port Huron of the port of Detroit, brought to recover certain customs duties alleged to have been improperly exacted on a particular importation described in the invoice as 160 “Cast Iron Ingot Moulds.” Duty was levied thereon at the rate of 45 per centum ad valorem under paragraph 397, Tariff Act of 1930, as manufactures of metal not specially provided for. It is claimed that said merchandise is properly dutiable at but 20 per centum ad valorem under the following paragraph of said act:

Par. 327. Cast-iron pipe of every description, and cast-iron fittings for cast-iron pipe, 25 per centum ad valorem; cast-iron andirons, plates, stove plates, sadirons, tailors’ irons, hatters’ irons, but not including electric irons, and castings and vessels wholly of cast iron, including all castings of iron or cast-iron plates which have been chiseled, drilled, machined, or otherwise advanced in condition by processes or operations subsequent to the casting process but not made up into articles. [50]*50or parts thereof, or finished machine parts; castings of malleable iron not specially-provided for; cast hollow ware, coated, glazed, or tinned, but not including enameled ware and hollow ware containing electrical elements, 20 per centum ad valorem; molders’ patterns, of whatever material composed, for the manufacture of castings, 50 per centum ad valorem.

Certain photographs of the castings in question were admitted in evidence as Collective Exhibit 1. In addition, the plaintiff offered the testimony of four witnesses.

The first, Roger Ralston, superintendent of the electric furnace department of the plaintiff corporation and a qualified metallurgist, testified that a casting of iron or steel is metal poured into a container in a molten condition, the container forming the general shape desired; that after freezing in the shape of the mold the molten metal assumes the shape of the mold; that a rough casting is one on which no machine work, such as that of the lathe, shaper, or drill, has been applied; that he was familiar with the merchandise herein and that the cast-iron molds in question are used as molds to make steel ingots which are steel castings; that the castings in the present case were rough castings upon which no machine work was done, which was proved by the fact that the imprint of the sand crystals was still upon them; that the articles depicted on the photograph admitted in evidence as Collective Exhibit 1 were representative of all of the merchandise involved herein; that there was no evidence in any of them of any chiseling, drilling, or machine work of any kind having been applied to or upon them; that an analysis of one of the molds in question, taken at random from the importation, showed no trace of vanadium, tungsten, molybdenum, chromium, nickel, or cobalt; that it showed 0.10 of 1 per centum of manganese and 1.24 per centum of silicon; and that the castings in question are not alloyed castings.

On cross-examination he testified that it was possible to tell by observation whether a casting was even slightly machined; that he saw the molds or castings involved in the present case at his company’s plant at Fort Wayne, Ind., at the time they were received; that his company manufactures steel ingots; that the articles represented by Collective Exhibit 1 are molds in which steel ingots are cast; that the inside of the mold is fairly smooth due to the use of a baked core; that he had personally examined the entire 160 molds constituting the imported merchandise and that there were no tool marks or other evidence of machine work thereon; that they were not made by the open-hearth process but in a cupola; and that said molds are composed throughout of cast iron.

On redirect and recross-examination he testified that the molds in the case at bar were not malleable castings, a malleable casting having a very low carbon content which has been annealed to bring on graphite carbon.

[51]*51The second witness, Anthony J. Blaeser, vice president of the plaintiff corporation, testified that he was familiar for many years with castings and had seen them made both in this country and in Canada; that he had seen some of the molds at issue in this case actually made at the foundry of the Dominion Wheel & Foundries, Ltd., of Toronto, Canada.; that the molds which he saw were in various stages of manufacture, some finished, some partly finished, and some in the process of being cast; that in the process of casting, sand is placed around the core and the molten metal is simply poured into that core which when cooled makes the casting; that when the casting comes out of the core the sand and the runners or risers are knocked off; that in the case of the molds at bar there was no chiseling, drilling, or machining of any kind; that if there had been there would be tool marks on the mold or casting; and that the molds in this case were rough castings.

On cross-examination he testified that he actually saw the particular molds constituting the instant shipment in the process of manufacture; and that a mold has a hollow interior and a solid bottom so that you can pour molten iron or steel into it in order to make a casting.

On redirect examination the witness testified that the imported molds were themselves made in a mold and were made of cast iron, and that they are used for the purpose of casting steel ingots.

On recross-examination he testified that in the manufacture of the imported molds, flasks either of wood or steel are placed on the ground and a core box is placed inside them; that sand is then poured around the core-boxes; that the core-boxes together with the sand is termed a mold, and that the steel ingots manufactured by the witness’ company in said molds are known as castings.

The third witness, Edgar Ritcey, assistant to the president of the Dominion Wheel & Foundries, Ltd., testified that the business of his company was the manufacturing of castings; that the merchandise covered by the invoices herein consisted of rough iron castings known as ingot molds; that he saw said castings shipped from his company’s plant; that there is a hunk of metal on the top of each casting called a “gate” which is always chiseled off when the casting is finished; that no machine tool or grinding wheel of any kind is used inside of the casting; that except for the chiseling off of the rough gate the castings were shipped in the condition that they came out of the mold; that the material used in the production of the merchandise at bar consisted •of pig iron and scrap iron which the witness purchased; that said material contained no vanadium, tungsten, molybdenum, cobalt, or other metallic substance used as an alloy in steel and iron; that said material [52]*52did not contain in excess of 5 per centum of phosphorus and did contain less than 3 per centum of either manganese or silicon; and that there was no work done on the castings in question by the lathe, shaper or drill.

On cross-examination the witness testified that he knew the purpose for which the merchandise in question was used; and that the articles are ingot molds used to make rough billets or ingots.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

John V. Carr & Son, Inc. v. United States
66 Cust. Ct. 316 (U.S. Customs Court, 1971)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
3 Cust. Ct. 49, 1939 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 1752, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/joslyn-mfg-supply-co-v-united-states-cusc-1939.