Norton & Ellis, Inc. v. United States

52 Cust. Ct. 76, 1964 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 1372
CourtUnited States Customs Court
DecidedApril 6, 1964
DocketC.D. 2440
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 52 Cust. Ct. 76 (Norton & Ellis, Inc. 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
Norton & Ellis, Inc. v. United States, 52 Cust. Ct. 76, 1964 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 1372 (cusc 1964).

Opinion

Wilson, Judge:

The merchandise involved in the case at bar, with the exception of that covered by protest 59/12489 herein, is described on the invoices covered thereby as Polycolle PK-1. It was assessed with duty at the rate of 3% cents per pound and 25 per centum ad valorem under paragraph 27(a) (4) (5) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as [77]*77modified, as a mixture consisting in part of a product provided for in said paragraph 27, it appearing that said product contained 5 percent of a coal-tar-plasticizer (plaintiff’s exhibit 1, R. 11).

The merchandise covered by protest 59/12489 is described as Terokal adhesive. It was classified under paragraph 24 of the Tariff Act of 1930 at the rate of 20 cents per pound and 25 per centum ad valorem as an alcoholic compound, not specially provided for, by reason of the fact that the merchandise contained 9 percent of methyl alcohol (plaintiff’s exhibit 2, B. 12). Both products here in question are used as adhesive materials employed in the making of wooden flooring.

Plaintiff herein, the customs broker for the importer, claims in all of these protests that both products should have been classified under paragraph 205(d) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as modified by the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, T.D. 51802, under the provisions therein for “other cement, not specially provided for.” Alternatively, with respect to the Terokal adhesive covered by protest 59/12489, plaintiff claims this merchandise properly dutiable under paragraph 5 of the relevant tariff act, as modified by the Sixth Protocol of Supplementary Concessions to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, T.D. 54108, at the rate of 11 per centum ad valorem, as a chemical mixture or compound.

The provisions of the statutes under consideration are as follows (text as originally enacted under the Tariff Act of 1930; rates of duty at time of import):

Pab. 27. Coal-tar products:
***»♦*»
(a) (4) all mixtures, including solutions, consisting in wliole or in part of any of tlie foregoing products provided for in this paragraph, except sheep dip and medicinal soaps;
(5) all the foregoing products provided for in this paragraph, * * * and not specially provided for in paragraph 28 or 1651, 25 per centum ad valorem and 3y2 cents per pound.
Pab. 24. Chemical elements, and chemical and medicinal compounds, preparations, mixtures, and salts, * * * all the foregoing and their combinations when containing alcohol, * * * and all alcoholic compounds not specially provided for, if containing 20 per centum of alcohol or less, 20 cents per pound and 25 per centum ad valorem; * * *.
[Pab. 205.1 (d) Other cement, not specially provided for, 5,per centum ad valorem.
Pab. 5. All chemical elements, all chemical salts and compounds, all medicinal preparations, and all combinations and mixtures of any of the foregoing, all the foregoing obtained naturally or artificially and not specially provided for, 11 per centum ad valorem.

In addition to certain customs laboratory reports (plaintiff’s exhibits 1 and 2), there was received in evidence a photograph depicting a wooden floor composed of small wooden squares being laid, with the [78]*78aid of the imported material, directly upon a concrete floor (plaintiff’s illustrative exhibit 3).

The only testimony in this case was that of plaintiff’s witness, Mr. W. W. Miller, executive vice president and treasurer of Miller Brothers Co., Johnson City, Tenn., manufacturer of hardwood oak and maple flooring, and for whose account the merchandise was imported. Mr. Miller testified that, in 1955, his company became interested in a new type of flooring, consisting of wood flooring blocks or slats, composed of very thin (%e of an inch thick) pieces of oak flooring, 4% inches long iby % of an inch to 1 %6 inches wide, which could be installed on concrete slabs or floors. The products at bar were found suitable as adhesives for use with wood flooring over concrete and were, accordingly, imported for such purpose.

The testimony of plaintiff’s witness relative to the method of laying the hardwood wooden blocks, with the use of the imported material, may be summarized as follows: The wooden blocks in question were composed of small slatlike pieces and were formed in a “jig,” 18 inches square, and then, while still in the jig, were covered with paper which was glued to the top of the block to hold it together (R. 24-25). The block was then fastened to the floor by use of the imported adhesive material, the paper on the top surface of the wooden block being removed. Nothing was added to the imported Polycolle or Terokal cement which, as imported, was ready for use by spreading on the concrete floor with a trowel (R. 26). The witness stated that no fastening device, other than the cement or mastic in question, was used to hold the wood to the concrete. There was no other use for either material, except that heretofore indicated (R. 28). Under cross-examination, plaintiff’s witness stated that both products were used for the same purpose in connection with laying tile floors.

The record discloses that the “Terokal” adhesive (which was classified under paragraph 24 of the Tariff Act of 1930 at,the rate of 20 cents per pound and 25 per centum ad valorem as an alcoholic compound) contained methyl alcohol. In the case of United States v. Bandos Chemical Works, Inc., 46 CCPA 115, C.A.D. 711, our appellate court, page 119, held that the term “alcohol” in paragraph 24 of the Tariff Act of 1930 was limited to ethyl alcohol, in accordance with the common meaning of the word. Accordingly, the product covered by protest 59/12489, containing as it does methyl alcohol, was improperly classified under the provisions of paragraph 24, sufra.

The testimony in the case at bar clearly shows, in our opinion, that the imported Terokal adhesive is, in fact, a “cement”; that its only use is to fasten the wooden blocks to the concrete floor upon which it is laid; and that the flooring was held in place solely by the use of the imported material, no other method of fastening the blocks to the con[79]*79Crete slab or floor being used. Webster’s New International Dictionary, second edition, page 433, defines “cement” as—

cement, n. * * * 2. Any substance used by men or animals for making bodies adhere to each other, as asphalt, glue, gypsum, lime, paste, plaster of Paris, Portland cement, tar, etc.

In our opinion, the Terokal product is a “cement” within the common acceptation of the term, and, as such, it is more specifically provided for under paragraph 205 (d) of the tariff act, as modified, as claimed.

The record in this case shows that the “Polycolle PK-1” is within the provisions of the aforesaid paragraph 27(a) (4) (5) of the act, being a mixture consisting in part of a coal-tar plasticizer. However, the testimony in the case indicates that it is also a cement and, in our opinion, it is also classifiable under paragraph 205 (d) of the tariff act, as modified, under the provision therein for “other cement.”

In support of the collector’s classification of the “Polycolle PK-1,” the Government, in its brief, directs our attention to the holding of our appellate court in the case of Kuttrof, Pickhardt & Co., Inc. v. United States, 21 CCPA 332, T.D. 46864.

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Related

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527 F.2d 1241 (Customs and Patent Appeals, 1976)
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Miller v. United States
71 Cust. Ct. 57 (U.S. Customs Court, 1973)
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67 Cust. Ct. 63 (U.S. Customs Court, 1971)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
52 Cust. Ct. 76, 1964 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 1372, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/norton-ellis-inc-v-united-states-cusc-1964.