NY 859750
Feb. 14, 1991
CLA-2-84:S:N:N1:103 859750
Mr. Scott A. Cohn
Grunfeld, Desiderio, Lebowitz & Silverman
12 East 49th Street
New York, N.Y. 10017
RE: The tariff classification of armature and stator
manufacturing machines from Italy
Dear Mr. Cohn:
In your letter dated January 21, 1991 on behalf of Axis USA,
Inc. you requested a tariff classification ruling.
This request represents one of several ruling requests you
have submitted covering the importation of various machines for
the manufacture of armatures and stators. The armatures and
stators made by this equipment will be used as components of
electric motors for small household appliances, power tools, and
automobile DC motors.
Armatures basically consist of coils of wire wound around an
iron core. They are produced by assembling metal laminations, or
stacks, into a cylindrical shape and then inserting a shaft into
slots in the stacks. A commutator, consisting of a molded
plastic ring surrounded by a copper shell, is then placed onto
the end of the shaft, and wires are wound around the shaft and
fused to the commutator. During this process insulating
materials are inserted at various stages so as to protect the
armature components and wires, and the wires are coated with a
resin to protect them from dirt and wear. Finally, the
electrical connections in each completed armature are tested.
The armatures are transported on metal pallets along a conveyor
system from machine to machine as the assembly process occurs.
Stators, which are stationary parts of a motor about which a
rotor revolves, are produced in much the same fashion.
You inquired about the following specific machines:
1. Models AST and Sassi-BD/RRV stack forming and shaft
placing machines - machines which dispense and align a pre-
determined number of metal laminations, and then press an
armature shaft into a slot in the aligned lamination stack.
2. Model EFPM end fiber placing machine - a machine used to
press nylon or vulcanized end fiber insulators, which have been
fed from a vibratory bowl, onto both ends of the armature stack.
3. Model SMPM collar placing machine - a machine used to
press vulcanized fiber collar insulators, which have been fed
from a vibratory bowl, onto both ends of the armature stack
covering the shaft.
4. Model CIM armature cell insulating machine - a machine
which forms and cuts paper or paper/mylar roll stock insulation
material into "cells" and inserts the cells into the slots of the
armature stack. The cells provide a protective barrier between
the stack and the wire which is later placed in the space between
the stack and the armature shaft.
5. Model ACP armature commutator placer - a machine used to
press commutators, which have been fed from a vibratory bowl,
onto the armature shaft.
Control panels for each machine described above may also be
imported with the particular machine.
The applicable subheading for the Model EFPM end fiber
placing machine, Model SMPM collar placing machine, and Model CIM
armature cell insulating machine will be 8479.81.0000, Harmonized
Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTS), which provides for
other machines and mechanical appliances for treating metal,
including electric wire coil-winders. The rate of duty will be
3.7 percent ad valorem.
The applicable subheading for the Model AST and Model Sassi-
BD/RRV stack forming and shaft placing machines, and the Model
ACP armature commutator placer will be 8479.89.9090, HTS, which
provides for other machines and mechanical appliances having
individual functions, not specified or included elsewhere: other.
The rate of duty will again be 3.7 percent ad valorem.
A control panel imported together with the machine it will
control will be classified in the same subheading as the machine.
The above merchandise is not subject to any Voluntary Restraint
Agreements or visa requirements.
In a supplemental letter dated January 31, 1991 you also
inquired about disassembled machines and parts. In the absence
of specific information, we are unable to provide you with a
ruling on these matters. However, for your information, a
particular heading for a machine includes such a machine in a
disassembled state, per General Rule of Interpretation 2(a). If
the importation does not contain all the components of the
disassembled machine, it will still be classified in the heading
for the complete machine provided it has the essential character
of the complete machine. Parts of machines, and spare parts,
which are not goods provided for in any of the other headings of
chapters 84 or 85, nor excluded from chapters 84 or 85, will be
classified in the same heading as the machine of which they are a
part provided they are solely or principally used with such
machine (see Notes 1 and 2 of section XVI, Note 1 to chapter 84,
and Note 1 of chapter 85, HTS).
This ruling is being issued under the provisions of Section
177 of the Customs Regulations (19 C.F.R. 177).
A copy of this ruling letter should be attached to the entry
documents filed at the time this merchandise is imported. If the
documents have been filed without a copy, this ruling should be
brought to the attention of the Customs officer handling the
transaction.
Sincerely,
Jean F. Maguire
Area Director
New York Seaport