Servo-Tek Products Co. v. United States
| Decision Date | 06 November 1969 |
| Docket Number | Customs Appeal No. 5333. |
| Citation | 416 F.2d 1398,57 CCPA 13 |
| Parties | SERVO-TEK PRODUCTS CO., Inc., Appellant, v. The UNITED STATES, Appellee. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Customs and Patent Appeals (CCPA) |
Siegel, Mandell & Davidson, New York City, attorneys of record, for appellant; Allan H. Kamnitz, New York City, of counsel.
William D. Ruckelshaus, Asst. Atty. Gen., Andrew P. Vance, Chief, Customs Section, Patrick D. Gill, New York City, for the United States.
Before RICH, Acting Chief Judge, JONES, Judge, sitting by designation, ALMOND, BALDWIN and LANE, Judges.
This appeal is from the judgment of the United States Customs Court, Second Division, 61 Cust.Ct. 224, C.D. 3581 (1968), overruling the appellant-importer's protest to the classification of four models of "geared motors."
The imported items each consist of an electric motor and a gear train, enclosed in a gear box, securely fastened together to form a single operating unit. Appellant tells us that the function of "the motor proper" is to convert electrical energy into mechanical energy at an armature speed of 3600 RPM and that the gear train reduces this armature speed to an output shaft speed of 18, 40, or 90 RPM, depending on the model, and correspondingly increases the available torque. Two of the imported models have power ratings of ½ horsepower and two have ratings of 1/8 horsepower.
The collector classified the imports under Paragraph 353, Tariff Act of 1930, as modified by Presidential Proclamation No. 3468, 97 Treas.Dec. 157, T.D. 55615:
Articles having as an essential feature an electrical element or device, such as electric motors, fans, locomotives, portable tools, furnaces, heaters, ovens, ranges, washing machines, refrigerators, and signs, all the foregoing and parts thereof, finished or unfinished, wholly or in chief value of metal, and not specially provided for:
* * * * * *
Other * * * (except
* * * . . . 12½% ad val
The protest asks for classification as "motors" under another provision of Paragraph 353, Tariff Act of 1930, as modified by Presidential Proclamation No. 3512, 98 Treas.Dec. 28, T.D. 55805:
The parties seem to agree that there are two somewhat competing "general rules" of judicial origin bearing on whether an item will fall within a given eo nomine provision. One of these is that "an eo nomine statutory designation of an article, without limitations or a shown contrary legislative intent, judicial decision, or administrative practice to the contrary, and without proof of commercial designation, will include all forms of said article." Nootka Packing Co. v. United States, 22 CCPA 464, 470, T.D. 47464. The other is that "an item which is more than a certain article cannot fall within the eo nomine provision for that article." E. g., United States v. A. W. Fenton Co., 49 CCPA 45, 47, C.A.D. 794 (1962).
Needless to say, appellant contends that the geared motors in issue are merely a special type of motor while the Government contends that an electric motor plus the gear train speed-reducer transmissions is "more than" a motor, for tariff purposes. The arguments of both parties and the opinion of the court below center on the decision and opinion of this court in the Fenton case, supra, where, as here, the imported item was claimed to be an "electric motor." Invoiced as "Hoover Electric Motor and Gear Assemblies," the import was described in the Fenton opinion as follows:
* * * the article includes such components of an electric motor as an armature, field assembly, commutator, carbon brushes, and bearings, along with a two-piece frame which holds those parts together as a unit. Each end of the armature shaft is provided with a worm adapted to drive a worm gear. Such a gear, mounted on a drive shaft, is held in driven connection with each of the worms by the frame. The two drive shafts are disposed in spaced parallel relationship, perpendicular...
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