Simonds Saw & Steel Co. v. United States

48 Cust. Ct. 186
CourtUnited States Customs Court
DecidedApril 25, 1962
DocketC.D. 2333
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 48 Cust. Ct. 186 (Simonds Saw & Steel 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
Simonds Saw & Steel Co. v. United States, 48 Cust. Ct. 186 (cusc 1962).

Opinion

LawRENce, Judge:

Plaintiff bas invoked the jurisdiction of this court, pursuant to the provisions of section 516(b) of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C. § 1516(b)), which grants to an American manufacturer the right to challenge the classification by the collector of customs of imported merchandise of a class or kind manufactured by it.

The importation in controversy consists of so-called segmental saws or saw blades, those terms being used interchangeably, which were classified by the collector of customs as “Circular saws, finished or further advanced than tempered and polished,” in paragraph 340 of said act (19 U.S.C. §1001, par. 340), as modified by the Torquay Protocol to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, 86 Treas. Dec. 121, T.D. 52739, and duty was imposed thereon at the rate of 10 per centum ad valorem.

Plaintiff, in its protest, claims that the merchandise should properly be classified as “metal tools composed of steel and suitable for use in cutting metal” within the provision of paragraph 352 of said act (19 U.S.C. § 1001, par. 352), as modified by the Sixth Protocol of Supplementary Concessions to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, 91 Treas. Dec. 150, T.D. 54108, which provides duty at the rate of 21 per centum ad valorem.

By an amendment of its protest, plaintiff alternatively claims that the articles in issue should be classified as “cutting tools of any kind containing more than one-tenth of 1 per centum of vanadium or more than two-tenths of 1 per centum of tungsten, molybdenum or chromium,” in said paragraph 352, as modified by the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, 82 Treas. Dec. 305, T.D. 51802, and subjected to duty at the rate of 30 per centum ad valorem.

The text of the statutes involved is here set forth.

Paragraph 340 of the Tariff Act of 1930:

Crosscut saws, mill saws, pit and drag saws, circular saws, steel band saws, finished or further advanced than tempered and polished, hand, bach, and all other saws, not specially provided for, 20 per centum ad valorem; jewelers’ or piercing saws, 40 cents per gross.

Paragraph 340 of said act, as modified by the Torquay protocol, supra:

Circular saws, finished or further advanced than tempered and polished_10% ad val.

[188]*188Paragraph 352 of the Tariff Act of 1930:

Twist and other drills, reamers, milling cutters, taps, dies, die heads and metal-cutting tools of all descriptions, and cutting edges or parts for use in such tools, composed of steel or substitutes for steel, all the foregoing, if suitable for use in cutting metal, not specially provided for, 50 per centum ad valorem; cutting tools of any kind containing more than one-tenth of 1 per centum of vanadium, or more than two-tenths of 1 per centum of tungsten, molybdenum, or chromium, 60 per centum ad valorem. The foregoing rates shall apply whether or not the articles are imported separately or as parts of or attached to machines, but shall not apply to holding or operating devices.

Paragraph 352 of said act, as modified by the Sixth protocol, supra’.

Twist and other drills, reamers, milling cutters, taps, dies, die heads, and metal-cutting tools of all descriptions, and cutting edges or parts for use in such tools, composed of steel or substitutes for steel, all the foregoing, if suitable for use in'cutting metal, not specially provided for_21% ad val.

Paragraph 352 of said act, as modified by the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, supra:

Cutting tools of any kind containing more than one-tenth of 1 per centum of vanadium, or more than two-tenths of 1 per centum of tungsten, molybdenum, or chromium_30% ad val.

At the trial, two witnesses were called by the plaintiff and four by the party in interest. In addition to the testimony of these witnesses, some 25 exhibits were introduced into evidence.

The material facts of the case are not in duspute.

Plaintiff’s exhibits 1 and 2 represent the imported saws, which vary in diameter measurement from approximately 12 inches to 39% inches.

It was agreed between adversary counsel that the merchandise in controversy is composed of steel and that the segmental sections thereof contain alloying material in excess of the amounts specified in paragraph 352.

A more detailed description of the importation in controversy is given in the testimony of Paul Coggins, a highly qualified and experienced witness for the plaintiff, who described the merchandise as a composite article consisting of a saw body or blade to which a group of segments has been affixed to its periphery and so joined as to make a continuous circle. In exhibit 2, the tooth configuration of the segments, which is peculiar to a metal-cutting tool, to quote the witness, consists—

* * * of an alternately high and alternately low tooth. The high tooth is beveled on both sides at approximately forty-degree angles leaving approximately a one-third land [sic] or with the width on the oval tooth. The square tooth is the lower of the two and the cutting action would be that of a lead tooth and a following tooth. The gullet shape lends itself to the curling of a chip, the blade itself has coolant channels which we also have in the blades we manufacture and these coolant channels serve the purpose of carrying a coolant [189]*189while the saw is used as a cutting tool into the gullet and later into the edges of the teeth, and act as a lubricant and a cooling medium.

Exhibit 1 differs from exhibit 2 in that the segments are not finished with coolant channels.

The witness stated that, in order to acquire sufficient hardness to cut metal, alloying elements are added to steel to impart hardness, toughness, abrasion resistance, and the ability to hold a cutting edge at an elevated temperature, all of which would not be attained without the use of alloying elements.

The witness further testified that his company also manufactures and sells circular saw blades, designed for use on wood, a sample of which was received in evidence as plaintiff’s illustrative exhibit 3.

In comparing the characteristics of exhibits 2 and 8, the witness testified that exhibit 3 does not have segments. It is a flat, round piece of steel which has been set to obtain clearance of the saw body while the material is being cut. The segmental saw has all its clearance in the saw itself and has a thinner body than rim. Another important difference lies in the fact that if a segment becomes damaged, it can be replaced. Moreover, when segments become worn through use, they may be discarded and new segments riveted to the saw blade, whereas through the repeated sharpening of a solid wood saw, its diameter is gradually diminished to a point where it becomes useless.

Other reasons assigned by the witness that exhibit 2 is designed for cutting metal are:

Number one, Exbibit 2 bas coolant channels which indicate coolant is to be used with the blade. Coolant is never used on wood.

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Related

United States v. Simon Saw & Steel Co.
51 C.C.P.A. 33 (Customs and Patent Appeals, 1964)
J. E. Bernard & Co. v. United States
50 Cust. Ct. 41 (U.S. Customs Court, 1963)

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Bluebook (online)
48 Cust. Ct. 186, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/simonds-saw-steel-co-v-united-states-cusc-1962.