Rolland Frères (Inc.) v. United States

11 Ct. Cust. 321, 1922 WL 22040, 1922 CCPA LEXIS 28
CourtCourt of Customs and Patent Appeals
DecidedMay 26, 1922
DocketNo. 2135
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 11 Ct. Cust. 321 (Rolland Frères (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
Rolland Frères (Inc.) v. United States, 11 Ct. Cust. 321, 1922 WL 22040, 1922 CCPA LEXIS 28 (ccpa 1922).

Opinion

Smith, Judge,

delivered the opinion of the court:

"Tams,” crowns, hats, hat braids, “ all-over” braids, bands, strips, sheets, flowers, and ornaments, some made of a material called "visca” and others of "cellophane,” were classified by the collector of customs either as filaments of artificial silk or as articles composed in chief value of yarns, threads, filaments, or fibers-of artificial silk. The articles classified as “ artificial silk in the form of filaments,” were assessed for duty at 35 per cent ad valorem under paragraph 319 of the tariff act of 1913, and those classified as composed in chief value of yarns, threads, filaments, or fibers of artificial silk, were subjected to the duty of 60 per cent ad valorem prescribed by that paragraph. Paragraph 319 in so far as it is pertinent to the ease reads as follows:

319. Yarns, threads, filaments of artificial or imitation silk, * * * by whatever name known, and by whatever process made, 35 per cent ad valorem; beltings, cords, tassels, ribbons, or other articles or fabrics composed wholly or in chief value of yams, threads, filaments, or fibers of artificial or imitation silk * * * or of yarns, threads, filaments or fibers of artificial or imitation silk, * * * by whatever name known, and by whatevér process made, 60 per cent ad valorem.

The importer protested first, that directly or by similitude the goods covered by typical protest 934448 were dutiable either at 15 per cent ad valorem under paragraph 385 as nonenumerated manufactured articles, or at 25 per cent ad valorem under paragraph 34 as manufactures of gelatin; second; that directly or by similitude the articles covered by typical protest 936314 were dutiable (a) under paragraph 368 either at 15 per cent ad valorem as manufactures of palm leaf or at 20 per cent ad valorem as manufactures of chip or at 25 per cent ad valorem as manufactures of grass, straw, or weeds; (5) under paragraph 335 as braids or plaits or hats of straw, chip, grass, or palm leaf at 15 per cent, 20 per cent, or 25 per cent ad valorem; (c) under paragraph 385 as nonenumerated manufactures at 15 per cent ad valorem; third, that directly or by similitude the goods covered by typical protest 937803 were dutiable (a) under the paragraphs already referred to, (5) under paragraph 25 at 25 per cent as compounds of pyroxylin or other cellulose esters in blocks, sheets, rods, tubes, or other forms not wholly or partly polished, (c) under paragraph 150 at 40 per cent ad valorem as fabrics, ribbons, beltings, toys, or other articles, made wholly or in chief value of tinsel, lame, or lahn. The paragraphs upon which the importer relied were, in typical protest 934448, paragraphs 34 and 385; in typical protest 936314, paragraphs 335, 368, and 385; and in typical protest 937803, [323]*323paragraphs 34, 335, and 385. Said paragraphs, in so far as pertinent, are as follows:

34. * * * manufactures of gelatin * * * 25 per centum ad valorem * *
335. Braids, plaits * * * composed wholly or in chief value of straw, chip, grass, palm leaf * * * suitable for making or ornamenting hats, bonnets, or hoods * * * if bleached, dyed, colored, or stained, 20 per centum ad valorem; hats, bonnets, and hoods composed wholly or in chief value of straw, chip, grass, palm leaf * * * whether wholly or partly manufactured, but not blocked or trimmed, 25 per centum ad valorem.
368. Manufactures of * * * grass, straw, and weeds, 25 per centum ad valorem;
385. That there shall be levied, collected, and paid * * * on all articles manufactured, in whole or in part, not provided for in-this section, a duty of 15 per centum ad valorem.

'The importation is represented by 31 exhibits. Exhibits 1, 2, and 3 are hat braids composed chiefly of lustrous flexible flat bands of visca, about one-fourth of an inch wide, braided with chip. Exhibits 4, 5, and 24 are hat braids made of highly polished flexible, bands of cellophane, and Exhibits 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 are hat materials made by winding cellophane bands around long strips of cloth or paper. Exhibits 11 and 12 are flat cellophane strips varying in width from one twenty-fifth to one-eighth of an inch, held together and parallel to one another by weaving over and under them cotton weft threads at half-inch intervals in Exhibit 11, and at 3-inch intervals in Exhibit 12. Exhibit 13 is a strip of yellow crimped or accordion-plaited cellophane about 1-| inches wide, apparently intended for use as a millinery trimming. Exhibits 14, 15, and 31 are sheets of cellophane which are chiefly used for wrapping candies and candy boxes. Some of the sheet cellophane is used for surgical dressings and it may be cut into narrow bands or strips for the making or braiding of articles of various kinds. Exhibit 16 is a sheet of cellophane which differs from Exhibits 14, 15, and 31 in the particular that it has been crimped or accordion-plaited, and that it is probably used only for ornamental purposes or for the manufacture of ornamental articles. Exhibits 17 to 23 are strips or bands of colored cellophane varying in width from one-eighth to If- inches. Exhibits 17 to 22 are narrow enough to be braided, but Exhibit 23 appears to be too wide for that purpose. Exhibit 25 represents materials having a warp of narrow crimped cellophane strips varying in width from one-sixteenth to one-eighth of an inch and held in place by weft threads of cotton or of soft-finish artificial silk. Exhibit 26 consists of four black flexible cellophane flowerlike forms and crude imitations of leaves fastened to a cellophane band apparently designed to be used as a hat trimming. Exhibits 27 and 28 are partly manufactured ladies’ hats made of materials similar to the [324]*324materials represented by Exhibits 5 and 10. Exhibits 29 and 30 are artificial flowers oí cellophane.

The board sustained the protest as to Exhibits 14, 15, 16, and 31, but inasmuch as they could not determine what merchandise was of the widths represented by the exhibits, the decision of the collector as to such merchandise was left undisturbed. The board ruled that Exhibits 29 and 30 were artificial flowers dutiable under paragraph 347, and that the exhibits from 17 to 23 which were narrow enough to be braided or woven were similar in material and use to yarns; threads, or filaments of artificial silk, and therefore dutiable at 35 per cent ad valorem under paragraph 319. Such of the exhibits from 17 to 23 as were too wide to be braided or woven were held to be dutiable as nonenumerated manufactured articles under paragraph 385, but as the board was unable to determine what strips required cutting in order to be braided or woven the decision of the collector was permitted to stand.

The rest of the exhibits were held by the board to be similar in material to articles or fabrics of artificial silk and therefore dutiable at 60 per cent ad valorem under paragraph 319. From the decision of the board the importer appealed.

Artificial silk, visca, and cellophane are products of hydrocellulose and hydrocellulose is manufactured by chemically treating wood pulp, cotton, or other vegetable fiber. Wood pulp, cotton, or other vegetable fiber when treated with nitric acid becomes a cellulose nitrate and cellulose nitrate is the chemical designation of pyroxylin or gun cotton. Wood pulp, cotton, or other vegetable fiber when treated with xanthic acid becomes cellulose zanthate or “viscose.” Pyroxylin and viscose are both esters, which by further chemical treatment may be converted into hydrocellulose.

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Bluebook (online)
11 Ct. Cust. 321, 1922 WL 22040, 1922 CCPA LEXIS 28, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/rolland-freres-inc-v-united-states-ccpa-1922.