United States v. BALDT A., C. & FORGE DIV. OF BOSTON METALS CO.

• Decision Date: 25 May 1972
• Docket Number: Customs Appeal No. 5417.
• Citation: 59 CCPA 122,459 F.2d 1403
• Parties: The UNITED STATES, Appellant, v. BALDT ANCHOR, CHAIN & FORGE DIVISION OF the BOSTON METALS CO., Albert F. Maurer Company, Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Customs and Patent Appeals (CCPA)

59 CCPA 122, 459 F.2d 1403 (1972)

The UNITED STATES, Appellant, v. BALDT ANCHOR, CHAIN & FORGE DIVISION OF the BOSTON METALS CO., Albert F. Maurer Company, Appellees.

Customs Appeal No. 5417.

United States Court of Customs and Patent Appeals.

May 25, 1972.

L. Patrick Gray, III, Asst. Atty. Gen., Andrew P. Vance, Chief, Customs Section, Michael M. Hunter, New York City, for the United States.

Allerton deC. Tompkins, New York City, attorney of record, for appellees.

Before RICH, ALMOND, BALDWIN, and LANE, Judges.

ALMOND, Judge.

The United States appeals from the decision and judgment of the Second Division of the United States Customs Court¹ sustaining the protests herein and overruling the tariff classification of machinery used for making heavy steel anchor chains for vessels. Two protests and two separate shipments are involved. The first shipment, entered in April 1958, consisted of a heavy-duty transport system the function of which was to convey partially manufactured chains from one processing or manufacturing station to the next ensuing station. The second shipment, entered in May 1958, consisted of five machines to be used in the step-by-step production of the chains. This latter shipment comprised (1) an electrical resistance heater, (2) a hydraulic bending machine, (3) an automatic flash welding machine, (4) a clamping device, and (5) a hydraulically operated steel press.

The heavy-duty transport system, first shipment, was classified as other articles having as an essential feature an electrical device or element, not specially provided for, under paragraph 353 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as modified, T.D. 52739, and assessed duty at the rate of 13¾ percent ad valorem. Appellees, (plaintiffs below) protested (62/8017) claiming that the merchandise is properly dutiable at 11 percent under paragraph 353.

The merchandise comprising the second shipment was classified as follows:

                    Article               Tariff Provision              Duty
                1. Electrical            Par. 353, as modified,         12½%
                    resistance             T.D. 52739 (electric
                    heater                 heater)
                2. Hydraulic             Par. 372, as modified,         15%
                    bending                T.D. 51802 (machine
                    machine                tools)
                3. Automatic             Par. 353, as modified,         11%
                    flash welding          T.D. 54108 (electric
                    machine                welding apparatus)
                4. Clamping              Par. 372, as modified,         12%
                    device                 T.D. 54108 (machine
                                           nspf)
                5. Hydraulically         Par. 372, as modified,         15%
                    operated stud          T.D. 51802 (machine
                    press                  tools)
                

In protesting those classifications (protest 62/10442), appellee claimed that the articles should be classified as an entirety with duty at 11% under paragraph 353 (welding apparatus, instruments and devices).

The pertinent provisions of the Tariff Act of 1930 are:

                Classified under
                Paragraph 353, as modified, T.D. 52739
                    Articles having as an essential
                      feature an electrical element or
                      device, such as electric motors
                      fans, locomotives, portable tools
                      furnances, heaters, ovens, ranges
                      washing machines, refrigerators
                      and signs, finished or
                      unfinished, wholly or in chief
                      value of metal, and not specially
                      provided for:
                      *   *   *   *   *   *
                         Electric * * * heaters,
                           and ovens ................... 12½% ad val.
                      *   *   *   *   *   *
                          Other * * * .................. 13¾% ad val.
                  Paragraph 353, as modified, T.D. 54108:
                    Electrical signaling, welding, and
                      ignition apparatus, instruments
                      (other than laboratory), and devices,
                      finished or unfinished,
                      wholly or in chief value of metal,
                      and not specially provided
                      for ............................. 11% ad val.
                  Paragraph 372, as modified, T.D. 51802:
                      Machine tools (except jig-boring
                        machine tools) ................. 15% ad val.
                  Paragraph 372, as modified, T.D. 54108:
                    Machines, finished or unfinished,
                      not specially provided for:
                      *   *   *   *   *   *
                        Other * * * ................... 12% ad val.
                  Claimed under:
                Paragraph 353, as modified, T.D. 54108:
                    Electrical signaling, welding, and
                      ignition apparatus, instruments
                      (other than laboratory), and devices,
                      finished or unfinished,
                      wholly or in chief value of
                      metal, and not specially provided
                      for .............................. 11% ad val.
                      *   *   *   *   *   *
                    Parts, finished or unfinished,
                      wholly or in chief value of
                      metal, not specially provided for,
                      of articles provided for in any
                      item 353 in this Part:
                      *   *   *   *   *   *
                        Other ......................... The same rate
                                                        of duty as the
                                                        articles of
                                                        which they are
                                                        parts.
                

We have carefully reviewed the facts adduced of record. In material substance, they are not in dispute and were fairly and succinctly stated by the Customs Court:

All the items under protest were designed to be used and operated together to produce a welded anchor chain by a continuous process; the chain could not be produced in this manner if any of the steps performed by these items were eliminated. The imported items were integrated or coordinated so as to operate together as a unit, and each item was designed for a particular application in the production of a welded anchor chain. The individual items did not have any use except in conjunction with the other imported items to produce welded anchor chains.

The actual manufacturing process is a continous one by virtue of the transport equipment covered by the first shipment. This equipment consists of a specially constructed revolving turntable with four overhead crane stations, which conveys the material mechanically from one machine station to the other. The five imported machines covered by the second shipment perform the following functions: (1) the electrical resistance heater heats a steel bar to approximately 1,500 degrees Fahrenheit; (2) the link bender bends an end of the bar 180 degrees, then laces or inserts this link into an already manufactured link and forms the bar into a "C" with its two ends abutting; (3) the electric flash welder electrically welds the abutting ends of the "C"-shaped link together into a hot-welded closed link; (4) the clamping device holds the welded link while the extruded metal on the closed link is clipped off by a pneumatic hand-operated chisel which produces a smooth surface around the welded area; and (5) the hydraulically operated stud press contains shaped dies into which the link sides are squeezed until they set the ends of a

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