Westinghouse Electric International Co. v. United States

28 Cust. Ct. 209, 1952 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 27
CourtUnited States Customs Court
DecidedMay 6, 1952
DocketC. D. 1411
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 28 Cust. Ct. 209 (Westinghouse Electric International 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
Westinghouse Electric International Co. v. United States, 28 Cust. Ct. 209, 1952 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 27 (cusc 1952).

Opinions

Olivbb, Chief Judge:

The merchandise involved in this case is described on the invoice as “1 — Helm 70 MM. Photofluorographic Camera Complete including two (2) film magazines for American Film Perforation.” It was exported from Denmark and entered at the port of Baltimore, Md. It was classified for duty at 20 per centum ad valorem under paragraph 1551, Tariff Act of 1930, as “photographic cameras.” It is claimed properly dutiable at 10 per centum ad valorem under paragraph 353 under the same act, as modified, as “* * * X-ray apparatus, instruments (other than laboratory), and devices * * * and parts thereof, finished or unfinished.”

The pertinent parts of the above paragraphs read as follows:

Par. 1551. Photographic cameras and parts thereof, not specially provided for, 20 per centum ad valorem; * * *.
Par. 353. All articles suitable for producing, rectifying, modifying, controlling, or distributing electrical energy; * * * and X-ray apparatus, instruments (other than laboratory), and devices; * * * all the foregoing, and parts thereof, finished or unfinished, wholly or in chief value of metal, and not specially provided for, 35 per centum ad valorem.

(T. D. 51802 reduced the duty on X-ray apparatus and parts under paragraph 353 from 35 per centum to 10 per centum ad valorem.)

Filed with the papers is a report of the collector at the port of Baltimore, stating that the protested decision was reviewed and affirmed and giving as a basis of such affirmation a special report of the appraiser of merchandise at Baltimore, dated June 15, 1950. This report reads as follows:

The merchandise covered by this protest consists of a camera used in conjunction with, but not as an essential part of, an X-ray machine.
Its purpose is to photograph the image reflected on a screen or mirror by the X-ray apparatus, thus reducing the amount of radiation to which the patient is exposed by the operation of the X-ray.
It is properly dutiable as a camera, lens not chief value, at 20 % Par. 1551.
The issues presented by this controversy may be said to be:
(1) Whether or not the imported article is a photographic camera; or,
(2) Whether the imported article is a part of “X-ray apparatus.”
(3) If it is found to be both a camera and a part of X-ray apparatus, which of the two provisions is the more specific, and thus should control in determining the dutiable status of the imported article.

The imported article is some kind of a camera. Its final use is a camera use. It is bought and sold as a camera; it is described on the consular invoice as a camera, and one of plaintiff’s witnesses so describes it (R. 59). It, however, does not resemble in outward appearance or in operation the ordinary photographic cameras of commerce. It is a specially designed camera made for a particular, limited use in a special field. In the research work being carried on in an effort to determine the presence of stomach cancer in its earliest [211]*211stages, it was found impracticable, both from the standpoint of length of time involved and expense, to take large numbers of X-ray photographs in the usual manner on large, full-sized films. To overcome both these objections, this Helm photofluorographic camera was developed. It can function as a camera only in connection with and as part of a specially constructed X-ray unit. While the Helm camera is imported as a separate unit, it cannot be used to take a photograph or picture of anything in the condition in which imported. The X-ray generating unit and the table on which the subject reclines are produced and assembled in this country, and the imported Helm camera is permanently affixed thereto. It has no shutter, as is standard equipment in the ordinary photographic camera of whatever style or design. It has no lens at the front of the camera, as is the case in the ordinary photographic camera, although there is a lens in the rear of the interior of the camera. It does not take a picture of an object or scene, as is the case with the usual photographic camera. It does use sensitized film, but the film used is specially coated to take an impression with a maximufh of speed and a minimum of lighting. The front of the camera is set at right angles to the lens and film, so that a cross-section shows a shape like the letter “L.” At the top of the camera where it is affixed to the underside of the table there is a fluorescent screen. In operation, the patient is placed on the table. Above the patient and in line with the fluorescent screen is the usual X-ray generating apparatus. When the X-ray apparatus is in operation, the X-rays penetrate the body of the patient and the interior stomach condition is pictured on the fluorescent screen in the form of light and shadow. This shadow picture on the fluorescent screen is reflected by a mirror at the bottom of the column directly beneath the fluorescent screen and is diverted at right angles to another mirror and finally through an aspherical lens to the sensitized film which takes the impression of the shadow picture. The roll of film, about 3 inches in width, has a series of perforations on each edge, designed to mesh with gears, which permits the film being advanced as successive pictures are taken. Unlike the ordinary camera, the film in the Helm camera is always exposed, but the interior of the camera is lightproof and, instead of the usual shutter arrangement to permit the entrance of light, it is the action of the X-rays on the fluorescent screen at the top of the camera that provides the illumination permitting the picture to be made. The X-ray unit is electrically connected with the camera so that its action is synchronized and the operation of the X-ray generator operates the camera. The use of the mirror to deflect the shadow picture to the lens and film instead of having it in a straight line, as in an ordinary camera, avoids the necessity of having what would otherwise be the full focal length of the camera below the table. This would necessitate [212]*212raising the table to a height which would be inconvenient for practical use, as the patient would have to climb to a considerable height to reach the table.

The practice of taking rapid, inexpensive X-ray photographs by the photofluorographic method is not entirely new in connection with the general science of radiography.

In the “Complete Photographer,” a 10-volume work published in 1942 by the New York National Educational Alliance, Inc., in discussing X-ray photography, there appears in volume 5, page 1845, the following:

In normal X-ray photography (radiography) the X-rays or Roentgen rays pass through the object being examined and strike the special X-ray photographic emulsion directly. * * * Fluorography, on the other hand, uses a regular camera to record the visible images of the X-ray as it is seen on a fluorescent viewing screen. * * *
Fluorography is chiefly concerned with photographing the fluorescent image (set up by X-rays) of medical or industrial subjects. * * * With fluorog-raphy, use of 35 m. m. film is possible whereas in regular X-ray photography, where no optical system is used, the film has to be as close to the object as possible, thus always making the film life-size or slightly larger — a slow and expensive feature. On the other hand, with small and inexpensive 35 m. m.

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Bluebook (online)
28 Cust. Ct. 209, 1952 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 27, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/westinghouse-electric-international-co-v-united-states-cusc-1952.