Classification of plastic button-making machinery turns on working hard plastic blanks, despite temporary heating before processing.

Imported polyester button-making machinery used on hard plastic blanks was treated as a machine-tool for working hard materials under Heading 84.65, not as machinery for working rubber or plastics under Heading 84.77. Temporary heating of the blanks before drilling or turning did not alter the character of the material being worked, and silence in the catalogue about hardness did not show that the machine could not process hard plastics. On the stated facts, the classification under Heading 84.65 was maintained.

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Issues: Whether the imported polyester plastic button making machine was classifiable under Heading No. 84.65 of the Customs Tariff Act or under Heading No. 84.77.

Analysis: Heading No. 84.65 covers machine-tools for working hard materials, including hard plastics, whereas Heading No. 84.77 applies only to machinery for working rubber or plastics not specified elsewhere. The machine operated on button blanks made of hard plastic material, and the fact that the blanks were temporarily heated to soften them before drilling or turning did not change the character of the material being worked upon. Nor did the catalogue's silence on the degree of hardness establish that the machine was incapable of working on hard plastics. On the admitted facts, the machine remained a machine-tool for working hard plastic blanks.

Conclusion: The machine was correctly classified under Heading No. 84.65 and not under Heading No. 84.77.

Final Conclusion: The classification adopted by the authorities below was upheld and the appeal failed.

Ratio Decidendi: A machine used on hard plastic blanks does not cease to fall under the heading for machine-tools for working hard materials merely because the blanks are temporarily heated before processing.

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