United States v. Trorlicht, Duncker Carpet Co.

10 Ct. Cust. 254, 1921 WL 21164, 1921 CCPA LEXIS 1
CourtCourt of Customs and Patent Appeals
DecidedFebruary 4, 1921
DocketNo. 2027
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 10 Ct. Cust. 254 (United States v. Trorlicht, Duncker Carpet Co.) 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. Trorlicht, Duncker Carpet Co., 10 Ct. Cust. 254, 1921 WL 21164, 1921 CCPA LEXIS 1 (ccpa 1921).

Opinion

Smith, Judge,

delivered the opinion of the court:

Rugs made of chenille, classified by the collector of customs as Axminster rugs and carpets woven whole for rooms, were assessed [255]*255for duty at 50 per cent ad valorem under the provisions of paragraph 300 of the tariff act of 1913, which is as follows:

300. Carpets of every description, woven whole for rooms, and Oriental, Berlin, Aubusson, Axminster, and similar rugs, 50 per centum ad valorem.

The importers protested that the goods were neither rugs of the kind enumerated in paragraph 300 nor carpets woven whole for rooms within the meaning of that provision, but that they were chenille rugs, composed wholly or in part of wool, dutiable by virtue of paragraph 303, at the rate imposed on chenille carpets by paragraph 293. Paragraphs 303 and 293 read as follows:

303. Mats, rugs for floors, screens, covers, hassocks, bed sides, art squares, and other portions .of carpets or carpeting, composed wholly or in part of wool and not specially provided for in this section, shall be subjected to the rate of duty herein imposed on carpets or carpeting of like character or description.
293. Aubusson, Axminster, moquette, and chenille carpets, figured or plain, and all carpets or carpeting of like character or description, 35 per centum ad valorem

The Board of General Appraisers sustained the protest, and the Government appealed.

The rugs involved in this appeal are made of chenille and are woven, as are carpets in running lengths, containing the material for the making of from 20 to 40 rugs. The running lengths are cut at the points indicated by the weave and the pieces so produced are “portions of carpets or carpeting,” until they are bound or fringed and thereby converted into finished rugs. The rugs are therefore made from “portions of carpets or carpeting,” and unless otherwise more specifically provided for are dutiable as prescribed by paragraph 303.—Beuttell v. Magone (157 U. S., 154, at pp. 158 and 159).; Beuttell & Sons v. United States (7 Ct. Cust. Appls., 356; T. D. 36905).

The Government, however, contends that the goods are provided for eo nomine by paragraph 300 as Axminster rugs, or as carpets woven whole for rooms, and that consequently they are subject to the duty of 50 per cent ad valorem which that paragraph imposes.

It is not disputed that Axminster. rugs and carpets were first produced by hand, and that originally there was no such thing as a machine-made Axminster rug or carpet. The manufacture of machine-made rugs and carpets did not begin in Europe until about the year 1831, long after the invention by Cartwright of the first successful power loom. Such rugs and carpets were not made in this country until after the invention by Erastus Bigelow, in 1841, of a power loom which turned out rugs and carpets similar to the handmade Axminster, and which were called “moquette.” Some 20 years ago the name “moquette” appears to have been abandoned, and all rugs and carpets made on power looms, similar to [256]*256handmade Axminster, were designated by the trade and commerce of the country as Axminster rugs and carpets. It may, therefore, be concluded that at the time of the passage of the act of 1913 the trade of this country generally and uniformly included in the designation "Axminster” both the handmade and the machine-made Axminster.

About the year “1836” Alexander Buchanan, foreman of a shawl factory in Paisley, Scotland, contributed to the market a novelty in shawls, the weft of which was chenille and not yarn. The chenille was made by weaving yarns of various colors into a fabric or blanket and cutting the fabric or blanket into thin strips, which were then passed over heated rollers, thereby acquiring a caterpillarlike form, and consequently the name “chenille,” the French for caterpillar. James Templeton, a neighboring manufacturer of shawls, was much impressed by the fact that the chenille shawls were very similar in appearance to the tufted-pile carpets, woven by hand in the East, and in “ 1838,” after four years of experiment, he set himself to the making of carpets having a weft of chenille. In Scotland such carpets were first called chenille carpets and later Patent Axminsters, although they differed radically from Axminsters in manufacture and even in appearance when closely examined. See “The Textile Industries” (William S. Murphy), 151, 153.

The testimony of Francis Way, a Government witness, indicates that rugs and carpets of chenille were not made in this country until about 20 years ago, and that they were called chenille Axminsters to distinguish them from spool Axminsters, a machine-made imitation of the handmade Axminster. The Axminster rug or carpet was not a moquette, which was a French handmade velvet floor covering, and the witnesses on both sides are agreed that the rug or carpet of chenille was neither a true handmade nor a true machine-made Axminster. That chenilles were given the name of rugs and carpets made in an entirely different way, and which admittedly they did not resemble except at a distance and to the eye of the casual observer, must be attributed in the light of the evidence and literature on the subject to a business policy which induced manufacturers and dealers to give a novelty in machine-made carpets the designation of some handmade article already established in popular favor, and to abandon the name if it proved to be disadvantageous. But whatever may have been the policy of the trade, it is certain that the carpets first made of chenille bore the name of chenille carpets, and that that- designation distinguished them effectively from all other carpets. Indeed, we may well say that they were originally and are now properly and commonly so denominated.

Several varieties of carpets are named from their material; as chenille carpet, (See Standard Dictionary.)
[257]*257Chenille carpet, a carpet in which the weft is of chenille instead of yarn. The pattern is dyed in the chenille itself, nothing showing at the snrfaoe of the carpet hut the ends of the chenille fringe. (See Carpet — Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia.)
Chenille carpet. — The chenille carpet is soft and beautiful, but costly. In making it the warp threads are stretched out horizontally, as in a common loom, and the weft is thrown in by a shuttle; but this weft consists of chenille, instead of mere yarn, and when the weaving is completed, 1he loose, colored threads of 1he chenille are combed up and made to appear at the surface, where they are cut and sheared to a state of velvety softness. The pattern is dyed in the chenille itself, nothing appearing at the surface of the carpet except the ends of the chenille fringe. (See Chenille Carpet — Knight’s American Mechanical Dictionary, p. 535.)

The Government makes the point, however, that the rugs in issue became known to the trade as ‘‘'Axminsters,” and that therefore they must be classified as Axminsters for tariff purposes, whatever they may be in fact and whatever may be their common ordinary designation. In support of that position attention is called to testimony which it is claimed tends to establish that, ever since rugs and carpets of chenille were first produced in this country, they have been designated by the trade as chenille Axminsters and bought and sold by the trade under that name.

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Bluebook (online)
10 Ct. Cust. 254, 1921 WL 21164, 1921 CCPA LEXIS 1, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-trorlicht-duncker-carpet-co-ccpa-1921.