HQ 088941

January 16, 1992

CLA-2 CO:R:C:M 088941 AJS

CATEGORY: Classification

TARIFF NO.: 9031.40.00

District Director

U.S. Customs Service

P.O. Box 17423

Dulles International Airport

Washington, D.C. 20041

RE: Protest number 5401-90-100068; Rotortuner system; Data

management unit; Operator Console; Line scan camera; Subheading

9031.80.00; Chapter 90, Additional U.S. Note 3; subsidiary;

Webster\'s II New Riverside University Dictionary.

Dear District Director:

Protest for further review number 5401-90-100068 dated

10/31/90, was filed against the tariff classification of the

Rotortuner System within subheading 9031.40.00, Harmonized Tariff

Schedule of the United States (HTSUS).

FACTS:

The merchandise under protest is the Rotortuner System (RS).

It essentially consists of the Data Management Unit (DMU),

Operator Console (OC), Line Scan Camera (LSC), accelerometers and

related accessories.

The RS is a portable, fully integrated, computerized

vibration management system used to reduce or manage vibration in

rotating machinery (such as helicopters) and its rotating

components (such as rotors, shafts, engines, gear boxes, cooling

fans, etc.). It senses, measures and analyzes vibration

problems.

The RS operates in the following manner. The DMU contains

all signal conditioning and processing, the computing system,

hard copy printer, and cassette. It accepts signal input from

the OC, remote control unit, accelerometers, optical and

-2-

magnetic pick-ups, the LSC, and the strobe. The OC is built as a

unit into the DMU. It contains the control keys and a flat panel

screen for data display.

The LSC is a hand-held, fixed focus, infrared transducer for

automatically tracking the tip path of helicopter rotor blades,

and rotating assemblies on other machines.

In the helicopter application, the LSC is pointed by the

operator at the main rotor tip path plane. LEDs on the back of

the camera indicate correct sighting of the blades. The LSC is

controlled by firmware within the DMU and will automatically

identify the blades correctly, calculate their relative heights

about a mean, and measure each blade. The high accuracy of the

timing data enables damper problems to be identified. The blade

track pattern is derived statistically from a number of

measurements and eliminates the need for subjective judgement by

the operator.

ISSUE:

Whether the RS is properly classifiable within subheading

9031.40.00, HTSUS, which provides for \"\[m\]easuring or checking

instruments, appliances and machines, not specified or included

elsewhere . . . \[o\]ther optical instruments and appliances.\"; or

classifiable within subheading 9031.80.00, HTSUS, which provides

for \"other instruments, appliances and machines\" of heading 9031,

HTSUS.

LAW AND ANALYSIS:

Heading 9031, HTSUS, provides for \"\[m\]easuring or checking

instruments, appliances and machines, not specified or included

elsewhere in this chapter . . .\" The RS satisfies the terms of

this heading. It is used to measure and check vibrations.

Accordingly, the RS is properly classifiable within heading 9031,

HTSUS.

Subheading 9031.40.10, HTSUS, provides for other optical

instruments and appliances. For the purposes of chapter 90, the

terms \"optical appliances\" and \"optical instruments\" refer only

to those appliances and instruments which incorporate one or more

optical elements, but do not include any appliances or

instruments in which the incorporated optical element or elements

are solely for viewing a scale or for some other subsidiary

purpose. Chapter 90, Additional U.S. Note 3. The RS satisfies

this description of \"optical\". In its condition as imported, the

RS is a system which incorporates an optical device (i.e., LSC).

The term \"subsidiary\" is described as \"\[s\]erving to

supplement or assist . . . \[s\]econdary in importance:

subordinate.\" Webster\'s II New Riverside University Dictionary,

-3-

p\. 1155 (1984). The LSC is not used for a subsidiary purpose.

When the LSC is used, it certainly is not used in a supplemental

manner nor is it secondary in importance. It performs a function

that is not performed by any other components of the RS. The

submitted literature states that the LSC is used \"primarily for

automatic tracking of the tip path of helicopter rotor blades and

is also applicable to other positional measurement systems.\"

Furthermore, the literature states that the LSC is one of the

devices from which the DMU accepts signal input. Accordingly,

the RS satisfies the terms of subheading 9031.40.00, HTSUS, and

is properly classifiable therein.

The protestant appears to be of the view that the LSC serves

a subsidiary purpose because it is not used all of the time that

the RS is used. But this is not our understanding regarding the

meaning of \"subsidiary\" as set forth in Note 2. The meaning of

\"subsidiary\" has nothing to do with the amount of time optics are

used in the overall use of a device, but it relates more to the

type of task which the optics perform when being used in the

operation of the device. As discussed previously, the task

performed by the LSC is clearly not subsidiary when the main

rotor is being balanced.

The protestant claims that the RS is classifiable within

subheading 9031.80.00, HTSUS, which provides for \"other

instruments, appliances or machines\". This claim is premised on

the argument that the RS is not an optical instrument. As

discussed previously, the RS is an optical instrument.

Therefore, classification within this subheading is precluded.

HOLDING:

The RS is properly classifiable within subheading

9031.40.00, HTSUS, which provides for other optical measuring or

checking instruments and appliances, dutiable at the General

Column 1 rate of 10 percent ad valorem. You should deny the

protest in full. A copy of this decision should be attached to

the Customs Form 19, Notice of Action, and provided to the

protestant.

Sincerely,

John Durant, Director

Commercial Rulings Division