Testing Machines, Inc. v. United States

12 Cust. Ct. 42, 1944 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 5
CourtUnited States Customs Court
DecidedFebruary 2, 1944
DocketC.D. 828
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 12 Cust. Ct. 42 (Testing Machines, 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
Testing Machines, Inc. v. United States, 12 Cust. Ct. 42, 1944 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 5 (cusc 1944).

Opinion

La tv ren cu, Judge:

Two importations of a device referred to in the record as a “Canadian Standard Freeness Tester” were classified by the collector of customs as articles, not specially provided for, composed in chief value of copper, and duty was assessed thereon at the rate of 45 per centum ad valorem íd accordance with the provisions of paragraph 397 of the Tariff Act of 1930. An additional duty of 3 cents per pound was imposed pursuant to the terms of section 3425 of the Internal Revenue Code (53 Stat. 415; sec. 601 (c) (7) of the Revenue Act of 1932). This latter assessment is not challenged.

Plaintiff claims in its protest that the importations are properly classifiable under the provision for “all other machines, finished or unfinished, not specially provided for,” or for “parts” thereof, and dutiable at the rate of 27){ per centum ád valorem under paragraph 372 of said tariff act. By amendment of the protest it is also claimed that the imported articles should be classified as parts of machines for making paper pulp or paper, and dutiable at the rate of 20 per centum ad valorem under said paragraph 372, as amended by the trade agreement with Sweden, T. D. 47785, 68 Treas. Dec. 19, 29.

Counsel for the respective parties, in their briefs, have referred to a further claim that the merchandise should be classified under the provision for “machines for making paper pulp or paper” in said paragraph 372, as amended, supra. Doubtless this reference was inadvertently made, inasmuch as that claim has not been invoked by the pleadings, and for that reason it will not be considered by the court.

Arthur F. Brinkman, the only witness in the case, testified that he had been employed for approximately 6 years as sales manager of the plaintiff-corporation; that “We manufacture and are also agents for various types of testing instruments”; that he has handled every one of their importations; that “the Canadian standard freenoss testers are all the same” and “are calibrated by the Forest Products Laboratories, of Montreal, Canada, which is a Government laboratory [44]*44and each Canadian standard freeness tester imported is exactly the same.”

The witness further testified that he was familiar with the functions of freeness testers lite those in controversy, having operated them "in our own shop, but not in a mill” and had read literature on the subject. He produced a pictorial representation of the imported testers, which was received in evidence as plaintiff’s illustrative exhibit A, hereinafter referred to as exhibit A.

It is .not clear from the testimonial record precisely how these instruments are adjusted for use in a paper mill, the witness stating that “They are right alongside the beater machine — the beating machines, the machine that beats the pulp.” However, aided by the pictorial representation (exhibit A), it would appear that the device is in two sections, each fastened, one above the other, to a panel, which in turn is apparently bolted to an upright surface. The function of the device is to determine the “beating degree of the pulp, or, in other words, how fine or how coarse the pulp is beaten.” »A more detailed description of the tester and its actual operation may be briefly stated as follows:

The upper section is in the nature of a cylindrical container having a wire strainer or screen, which is calibrated, near the bottom. The top, and the bottom, of the container are hinged, so that they may be opened or closed at will by means of so-called cam levers, which, judging from the design (exhibit A), are operated by hand, although the record is silent on that point.

When in use a solution, consisting of two grams of paper pulp which has been dried and mixed with 1,000 cubic centimeters of water, is poured into the cylindrical vessel above described. A pet cock in the cover remains open to permit the escape of “any excess air which might accumulate in that upper cylinder.” The bottom of the vessel is then opened to allow the water in the mixture to run into the lower section of the apparatus, which is appropriately adjusted directly beneath the container above referred to. This is a funnel-shaped container, or drainage funnel, having what the witness characterized as a lower, and an upper, orifice. When the mixture flows into this container the water runs out through the lower orifice, which is calibrated, and also out of the upper orifice. “The amount of water which comes through the upper orifice is caught in a beaker, or glass container, and measured, and that determines the beating degree of the pulp.” If the pulp is finely beaten the calibrated screen in the upper container will be closed considerably, with the result that the water will not run as fast into the lower container as it would if the pulp were coarsely beaten.

In this connection the witness testified:

[45]*45'In other words, when they calibrate the machine they determine the exact dimensions of the lower orifice; running free water through at 20° C. it will run through in a certain length of time without any fibers mixed up in it. And, of course, when the fibers are mixed up the coarseness or fineness of the fibers will determine how fast the water would go through here; and being that the lower orifice will only allow a certain amount of water through, if the water is rushed through more will go through the upper orifice if the fibers are beaten coarsely. If they are beaten fine the water would not run as freely into the lower orifice and, therefore, it would get more into the calibrated orifice and let more into the upper orifice.

It is also disclosed by the testimony that the fibrous material which is collected on the calibrated screen in the upper cylinder or container "is the same as that which comes off the regular paper machines.” A certain amount of water is pressed out of the material and then it is placed in an oven to dry. “Then they out samples from this piece of paper that is formed and determine the tensile strength, and the bursting strength, and other physical characteristics to determine whether they are getting the same type of paper, or the same sheet as they manufactured before.” Precisely how these characteristics are determined is not explained. Nevertheless, the tests accomplished by means of the device above described enable the manufacturer to ascertain if a certain batch of stock in the paper-making machine has been sufficiently beaten to produce the same type of paper as had.been manufactured previously.

It appears that in paper mills when these testers are not available “it has been the habit of experienced beater men to put the hand into the beater and pick out a sample and feel it and guess at whether it is beaten fine enough. That has been the custom before freeness testers were adopted.”

Upon the foregoing facts we are asked to determine whether the importations are properly classifiable as “machines, finished or unfinished, not specially provided for,” or as “parts” thereof, within the meaning of paragraph 372 of the Tariff Act of 1930, or whether they should be classified as parts of machines for making paper pulp or paper under said paragraph 372, as amended by the trade agreement with Sweden, supra.

We shall first consider the question whether the imported article is a machine in and of itself.

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Bluebook (online)
12 Cust. Ct. 42, 1944 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 5, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/testing-machines-inc-v-united-states-cusc-1944.