United States v. American Textile Engineering, Inc.

26 C.C.P.A. 48, 1938 CCPA LEXIS 197
CourtCourt of Customs and Patent Appeals
DecidedMay 2, 1938
DocketNo. 4131
StatusPublished

This text of 26 C.C.P.A. 48 (United States v. American Textile Engineering, Inc.) 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
United States v. American Textile Engineering, Inc., 26 C.C.P.A. 48, 1938 CCPA LEXIS 197 (ccpa 1938).

Opinion

Hatfield, Judge,

delivered the opinion of the court:2

This is an appeal from a judgment of the United States Customs Court, Second Division, holding imported parts of a so-called Hy-grolit machine dutiable as parts of “all other machines,” not specially provided for, at 27K per centum ad valorem under paragraph 372 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as claimed by the importer-appellee, rather than as parts of textile machinery at 40 per centum'ad valorem under that paragraph, as assessed by the collector at the port of Boston, Mass.

The pertinent part of paragraph 372 reads:

* * * all other textile machinery, finished or unfinished, not specially provided for, 40 per centum ad valorem; * * * all other machines, finished or [50]*50unfinished, not specially provided for, 27}i per centum ad valorem: Provided, That parts, not specially provided for, wholly or in chief value of metal or porcelain, of any of the foregoing, shall be dutiable at the same rate of duty as the articles of which they are parts * * *.

The hygrolit machine is used in steaming yarn and spraying it with a solution known as “Hygrolit.” It is comparatively large, and apparently' acquires its name from the fact, as stated in the brief of counsel for appellee, “that its main use is to spray a chemical liquid called Hygrolit over materials or articles caused to pass beneath a mechanism forming part of the machine, and operating to spray the liquid evenly over the material or articles carried beneath it.” Counsel for appellee further described the machine and its operation in his brief as follows :

The yarn is brought to the machine already wound on cops or tubes * * * in duffel-boxes, and then put into the machine through a feeding arrangement * * * consisting of a hoist, which feeds the yarn into a steam chamber. There it undergoes a very short steaming process * * *. The yam then drops down onto an endless moving platform or carrier which brings it under the spray.
The machine in question in the earlier suit [American Textile Engineering, Inc., v. United States, T. D. 47808, 68 Treas. Dec. 95, the record in which case was made a part of the record in this case] did not have the steaming attachment, and the yarn was not steamed in the machine. The hoist dumped the copped yarn directly on to the carrier to be sprayed with the Hygrolit chemical.
The spraying, as described by the witness Dulken on page 11 of the record, appears to be accomplished through a mechanism consisting of scrubber rollers which draw the solution to be used in spraying from a trough. Brushes revolve in an opposite direction from that of the rollers against the rollers and spray the liquid from the rollers to the-yarns passing beneath.
After passing under the spray the copped yarn drops automatically off the end of the carrier into empty duffel-boxes, and the operation is finished * * *. The excess liquid is recovered, strained and pumped back into the spraying tank * *

The witness Francis H. Bellevue, a customs examiner, who officially examined the involved merchandise, testified for the Government. His testimony relative to the operation of a hygrolit machine is as follows:

The Witness. * * * the yarn is spread into the footing or into the machine, and put through the first section of it, which is a steam box, and sprayed with hot water or steam; drops down into the second section, which is an affair 8 inches lower than the other affair. In that section it is sprayed with a liquid known as hygrolit and water.
Judge Kincheloe. You mean this machine is doing all that now?
The Witness. Yes, sir; that goes through the second section, and it is discharged on to an apron and dropped in the tubs or buckets and it is taken away.

The process of steaming yam and spraying it with the hygrolit solution is a “yarn conditioning” process, or, as stated by the witness Dulken, president of the importing company, a process called “chemical conditioning,” and lessens.the tendency of the yarn to kink by “setting the twist.” The moisture gives the yarn elasticity and strength[51]*51ens it, and, although the yarn is cleaned to some extent, that is not the purpose of the process. Clean yarn, having a tendency to kink, is, according to the statements of counsel for appellee at the time of the oral arguments in this court, subjected to the hygrolitic process. That process is not used by all manufacturers; some condition yarn by aging it in a “humidified room.” The conditioning of yarn, as stated by the witness Forty, who testified for the Government, is “a necessary process [for some yarns at least] in the manufacture of textiles,” and prepares it for the next step — that of manufacturing it into knitted or woven fabrics.

It clearly appears from the evidence of record that, although the hygrolitic conditioning process advances yarn in condition for use in weaving or knitting, and; to some extent, changes its characteristics, the resultant product is still yarn. It is not a manufacture of yarn, nor is it yarn manufactured into a new and different article having a new name, character, or use-from that of yarn.

In the cáse of Anheuser-Busch Assn. v. United States, 207 U. S. 556, 562, the Supreme Court held that corks, subjected to an elaborate process of cleaning and coating in order to adapt them to a special use, were not converted into new articles having a new name, character, or use within the purview of section 25 of the tariff act of 1890. The statute there involved provided for a drawback of 99 per centum of the amount of duties paid on imported materials which were “used in the manufacture of articles manufactured or produced in the United States,” and exported to foreign countries. In so holding, the court said, inter alia:

Manufacture implies a change, but every change is not manufacture, and yet every change in an article is the result of treatment, labor, and manipulation. But something more is necessary, as set forth and illustrated in Hartranft v. Wiegmann, 121 U. S. 609. There must be transformation; a new and different article must emerge, “having a distinctive name, character, or use.”

The decisions of the Supreme Court in that case and in the case of Hartranft v. Wiegmann, 121 U. S. 609, referred to in the quoted excerpt, have been followed by this court in many cases where applicable. See Ishimitsu v. United States, 11 Ct. Cust. Appls. 186, T. D. 38963, and cases cited therein.

In the case of Passaic Worsted Co. et al. v. United States, 17 C. C. P. A. (Customs) 459, T. D. 43916, this court, in holding that certain machines used for tearing apart fleeces of wool and for washing and drying the wool were not textile machines and not dutiable as “textile machinery” under paragraph 372 of the Tariff Act of 1922, quoted from our decision in the case of Whitlock Cordage Co. v. United States, 13 Ct. Cust. Appls. 656, T. D. 41490, and said:

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

Related

Hartranft v. Wiegmann
121 U.S. 609 (Supreme Court, 1887)
Anheuser-Busch Brewing Assn. v. United States
207 U.S. 556 (Supreme Court, 1908)
Ishimitsu v. United States
11 Ct. Cust. 186 (Customs and Patent Appeals, 1921)
Whitlock Cordage Co. v. Untied States
13 Ct. Cust. 656 (Customs and Patent Appeals, 1926)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
26 C.C.P.A. 48, 1938 CCPA LEXIS 197, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-american-textile-engineering-inc-ccpa-1938.