United Geophysical Co. v. United States

24 Cust. Ct. 228, 1950 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 1473
CourtUnited States Customs Court
DecidedApril 28, 1950
DocketC. D. 1238
StatusPublished

This text of 24 Cust. Ct. 228 (United Geophysical 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
United Geophysical Co. v. United States, 24 Cust. Ct. 228, 1950 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 1473 (cusc 1950).

Opinion

Lawkence, Judge:

The United Geophysical Co. of Los Angeles, imported a device which is described on the consular invoice as “1 set Type 268/RXF Radar equipment.”

It appears from the record that the collector of customs imposed duty upon the importation at the rate of $4.50 plus 65 per centum ad valorem as a “mechanism, device, or instrument intended or suitable for measuring * * * distance,” having no jewels, as provided in paragraph 368 (a) (1) and (2) of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U. S. C. § 1001, par. 368 (a) (1) and (2)).

Plaintiff relies upon the claim in its protest, as amended, that the merchandise is properly dutiable pursuant to the provisions of paragraph 353 of said act (19 U. S. C. § 1001, par. 353), as modified by the trade agreement between the United States and the United Kingdom, effective January 1, 1939, 74 Treas. Dec. 253, T. D. 49753, which reads, so far as pertinent, as follows:

[229]*229Electrical signaling, radio * * * apparatus, instruments (other than laboratory), and devices, * * * and all other articles suitable for producing, rectifying, modifying, controlling, or distributing electrical energy, and articles having as an essential feature an electrical element or device * * *; all the foregoing, not specially provided for, finished or unfinished, wholly or in chief value of metal, and not provided for heretofore in any item numbered 353 in this schedule_25% ad val.

No oral testimony was introduced in the case. It was submitted upon an agreed statement of facts which was filed with the record herein and is identified by the initials “D. H.” The character, functions, and use of the importation are so elaborately and fully described in the agreed statement of facts that it is deemed prudent to set them forth here in extenso, omitting certain nonessentials:

2. The function and estimated performance of the radar equipment involved in this action is correctly described in “Technical Manual for Merchant Marine Type 268 Radar” published by the National Research Council of Canada, and more particularly as follows:

Page 1, SECTION I — DESCRIPTION

1. EUNCTION

The type 268 equipment is a surface warning radar set. Its primary function is to aid in the detection of surface craft within a relatively small range, depending upon the size of the detected vessel (see below), and to give fairly accurate information about their range and bearing. It may also be used as an aid to navigation by determining coastal outlines.

2. ESTIMATED PERFORMANCE

Detection ranges on targets vary with the type of target, the height of the 268 aerial, and with sea and atmospheric conditions. Rain squalls and electrical disturbances produce pictures on the screen of the cathode ray tube which interfere with efficient operation. Fog and mist reduce detection ranges slightly.
2.1 The length of the transmitter pulse and the effect of the “ground clutter” make it impossible to discern targets at less than 250 yards range. At ranges greater than 1,000 yards it should be possible to distinguish one small target from another if they are on the same bearing, but differing in range by 200 yards. If targets are less than 200 yards apart, their echoes will merge and form a short line. If a very large target visually obscures a small target behind it, no echo will be received from the small target. Bearing discrimination should be such that two small targets at 5,000 yards, 200 yards apart, may be distinguished as two separate targets.
2.2 Bearing accuracy is of the order of ± 2°. When the range reading is
obtained by estimating the position of the echo relative to the calibration rings, the accuracy of the range readings is ±200 yards on the 6,000 yard range, and ± 500 yards or better on the 30,000 yard range. * * *
3. There are two types of radar systems; namely, pulse radar and c-w or continuous wave radar. The type 268 radar here involved is of the pulse type.
4. In the pulse radar system sharp bursts of radio energy are sent out, i. e. transmitted. When these bursts or “pulses” encounter a reflecting object they are reflected as discrete pulses which are detected by the radar receiver during the interval between the transmitted pulses.
[230]*2305. The particular radar set here involved * * * operates as follows:
Radio waves at a frequency of 10,000 megacycles per second are produced by the transmitter as follows:
A 500 cycle A. C. power supply is used to trigger (start) a time base generator (1) which produces a positive saw-tooth wave form (2). This “time base” voltage (positive saw-tooth wave) is applied to a delay circuit (3) to produce a negative square wave (4) which is used to trigger the modulator (5). This voltage is reshaped and employed to supply a high voltage pulse to the transmitter (6). This pulse causes the transmitter to oscillate at a wave length of 3.2 cm, for a duration of about % microsecond. This pulsed oscillation, which takes place 500 times per second, is sent through the duplexing system (7) to the aerial (8). The duplexing system acts as an automatic switch for the aerial so that it alternately transmits and receives.
The transmitted pulse, directed by the antenna, encounters an object or target in space. A radar target may be thought of as a discontinuity in the electrical properties of the medium through which the transmitted radio wave travels. If any of the electrical properties of conductivity, dielectric constant and magnetic permeability change abruptly, a current is induced at the surface of the discontinuity when the wave impinges on it. This induced current which produces reradiation from the target may be conduction current (alternating flow of free charges) or a displacement current (alternating elastic displacement of bound charges) depending upon whether the target is a conductor or dielectric. In other words the transmitted pulse on striking a target induces a current in the target which is reradiated from the target. The reradiated signal is generally propagated in all directions, i. e. the target acts as a scatterer of radio energy falling upon it. Its efficiency as a scatterer and hence the strength of the signal returned to the antenna is variously designated as the “scattering cross section”, “radar cross section” or simple “echo area”. The duplexing system, acting as a switch, renders the antenna or aerial receptive to the reradiated signal for com-paritively [sic] long intervals between transmitted pulses.
In these intervals between transmitted pulses, the duplexing system passes the return or reradiated signal as well as the transmitter pulse into the receiver (9). This signal is amplified, i. e. increased in magnitude without changing its frequency. Part of the amplified signal is sent to a monitor cathode ray tube (10) which, as the name implies, is used to check on its performance, and detect breakdowns.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

§ 1001
19 U.S.C. § 1001

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
24 Cust. Ct. 228, 1950 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 1473, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-geophysical-co-v-united-states-cusc-1950.