Plus Computing Machines, Inc. v. United States

44 C.C.P.A. 160, 1957 CCPA LEXIS 172
CourtCourt of Customs and Patent Appeals
DecidedMay 7, 1957
DocketNo. 4893
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 44 C.C.P.A. 160 (Plus Computing Machines, Inc. 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
Plus Computing Machines, Inc. v. United States, 44 C.C.P.A. 160, 1957 CCPA LEXIS 172 (ccpa 1957).

Opinion

O’Connell, Judge;

delivered tbe opinion of the court:

This is an appeal from the judgment of the United States Customs Court, Second Division, C. D. 1785, overruling the importer’s protest and sustaining the collector’s classification of the merchandise here involved, consisting of certain calculating machines, as machines not specially provided, for dutiable at 15 per centum ad valorem under paragraph 372 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as modified by the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, 82 Treas. Dec. 305, T. D. 51802. The importer claimed classification under the same paragraph, as modified by the Torquay Protocol to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, 86 Treas. Dec. 121, T. D. 52739, supplemented by Presidential notification, 86 Treas. Dec. 265, T. D. 52763, as calculating machines specially constructed for multiplying and dividing dutiable at 12% per centum ad valorem.

Paragraph 372, as modified by T. D. 51802, under which the machines were classified by the collector, reads:

Machines, finished or unfinished, not specially provided for:
*******
Other (except wrapping and packaging machines; food grinding or cutting machines; machines for determining the strength of materials or articles in tension, compression, torsion or shear; machines for making paper pulp or paper; machines for manufacturing chocolate or confectionery; and internal-combustion engines)_15% ad val.

[162]*162Paragraph 372, as modified by T. D. 52739, under which the importer claimed the machines should have been classified and assessed with duty, reads:

Machines, finished or unfinished, not specially provided for:
Calculating machines specially constructed for multiplying and dividing---12}$% ad val.

The issue here is thus defined at the outset in the brief of counsel for the Government:

The question presented is one of both law and fact. The question of law is, What is meant by the expression “specially constructed for multiplying and dividing”?, and the question of fact is, Are the machines herein as a matter of fact specially constructed for multiplying and dividing?

The case was submitted to the trial court not only on the testimony of six witnesses, three of whom were called by each of the respective parties, but also on Exhibits 1 to 10, inclusive, which were introduced into evidence by the importer, and Exhibit A which was received in .evidence in support of the Government’s position. Certain other exhibits were received by the Customs Court for the purpose of identification only, as thus indicated in its decision:

Exhibit 1, representing imported model 909; Exhibit 2, the same as exhibit 1, disassembled so as to expose its operating parts; Illustrative exhibit 3, Monroe rotary-type calculating machine; Illustrative exhibit 4, adding listing machine; Illustrative exhibit 5, half keyboard machine; Illustrative exhibit 6, photograph of Millionaire calculating machine; Illustrative exhibit 7, photograph of “Mercedes” Euklid calculating machine; Illustrative exhibits 8, 9, and 10, parts of imported machine; Exhibit 13, page 6 of “U. S. Government Price List” for Monroe calculating, adding, and bookkeeping machines, insofar as it represents a photograph of the model L 200-X machine; Collective exhibit 11, exhibit 12, and collective exhibit 14 were marked for identification only. Defendant introduced exhibit A, pamphlet circulated by plaintiff corporation.

The respective exhibits represent the type of machines employed by diversified branches of commerce and industry as suitable to perform the class and amount of work required in the conduct of their business.

The Customs Court in its decision made the important observation that during the trial “It was not disputed by the witnesses that exhibit 1, representing the importation, and exhibit 3, the Monroe rotary type of machine, are calculating machines; that exhibit 3 is specially constructed for multiplying and dividing; and that both of those machines can be used to add and subtract.” Furthermore, it was not disputed there that the importer’s Exhibit 1 contains the following features. It is manually actuated and has a keyboard comprising nine columns of nine keys each, with the keys in each column bearing the digits from 1 to 9, respectively. The digits in the right-hand column represent units, those in the second column tens, those in the third, hundreds, and so on. Addition is effected by [163]*163successively depressing the keys corresponding to the numbers to be added;

The Exhibit 1 machine does not subtract directly, but by a method as addition of complements, comprising adding the complement of the number to be subtracted to the number from which the subtraction is to be made. The complement of a number, as clearly defined and illustrated in the decision of the Customs Court, is “the numerical amount that must be added to the number to give the least number containing one more digit; as, the complement of 4 is 6, and that of 45 is 55.”

The Customs Court further stated that—

“The calculation of subtraction can be performed on an adding machine by adding the number’s complement and striking off the added digit. We give the following as an illustration:

Problem

Subtract 3 from 9.

Solution

The complement of 3 is 7.

Add 7 to 9 — 16.

Remove the added digit 1, leaving 6.”

The operations hereinbefore described require the operator to supply the complements of numbers at appropriate times. That process is facilitated by marking each key not only with a large digit, to be used in adding, but also with a small digit to be used in subtracting.

Multiplication is performed on Exhibit 1 by a rapid process of repeated addition.

Exhibit 1 is used for dividing by a process of repeated subtraction, which it is not necessary to consider here in detail, but which corresponds generally to the process of repeated addition. It is to be noted, however, that the subtractions are actually performed by addition of complements in the manner hereinbefore discussed.

From the foregoing it is evident that, mechanically, the Exhibit 1 machine does nothing but add and that subtraction, multiplication and division are performed on the machine by selecting the numbers to be added and the number of additions to be made. Such selection requires substantial skill and training on the part of the operator of the machine. However, while the basic operation of Exhibit 1 is limited to addition, the record shows that the construction of the machine is definitely modified in several ways in order to permit it to carry out quickly and accurately the particular type of addition that is involved when the machine is used for multiplication or division. The importer’s witness, Henry R. Mathieu, testified in detail that Exhibit 1 contains certain parts which would not be included if the machine were not intended for use in multiplying and dividing, and that other parts of the machine would be constructed in a different [164]*164manner if it were not to be used for those purposes. His testimony-in that respect is summed up in the following statement “* *

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Related

Plus Computing Machines, Inc. v. United States
42 Cust. Ct. 367 (U.S. Customs Court, 1959)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
44 C.C.P.A. 160, 1957 CCPA LEXIS 172, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/plus-computing-machines-inc-v-united-states-ccpa-1957.