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UNITED STATES TARIFF COMMISSION

MINERALS, CRUDE, N.S.P.F.
(PAR. 1719)

Comment

This summary covers that part of the basket classification in paragraph 1719, which includes miscellaneous crude nonmetallic minerals that are not specifically provided for elsewhere, either as dutiable or free. 1/ The principal minerals covered by this summary are vermiculite, a micaceous mineral, which, when expanded or exfoliated by the application of heat, is used as heat and sound insulation and as a lightweight aggregate in concrete and plaster; crude lime rock or dolomite ore, used chiefly as a fluxing stone in melting metals, as concrete and road metal, for the manufacture of lime, and for agricultural purposes; 2/ and Iceland spar, a transparent form of pure calcite, used for Nicol prisms. Also included are a wide variety of minerals and ores (both metallic and nonmetallic) when sold or used as mineralogical specimens.

The United States is an important producer of a number of the minerals covered by this summary, but statistics on such production are not available.

United States impurts of the crude minerals here under consideration amounted to $10,000 in 1939 and consisted largely of crude limerock or dolomite ore from Canada and mineralogical specimens from Brazil and elsewhere. During World War II, imports of these minerals averaged about $40,000 (foreign value), annually, and since the war, they have increased substantially, amounting to $143,000 in 1947 and $125,000 in 1948 (see table 1). The increase in imports in recent years is accounted for by relatively large shipments of crude vermiculite from the Union of South Africa, crude limerock or dolomite ore from Canada and mineralogical specimens from Brazil, Australia and elsewhere.

Statistics on United States exports of the class of minerals covered by this summary are not separately reported, but exports probably represent less than 1 percent of domestic production.

1/ The following crude nonmetallic minerals classifiable under par. 1719 are not covered by this summary, but are included in separate summaries: Cornwall stone, crude; gravel, crude; nepheline syenite, crude; kyanite, sillimanite, andalusite, and dumortierite, crude; natural gas; and lignite (see summary on coal, free of duty under par. 1650).

2/ See separate summaries on limestone, crude or crushed but not pulverized, dutiable under par. 203; and on limestone, crude, crushed, broken, ground, or pulverized, when imported to be used in the manufacture of fertilizers, free of duty under par. 1685.

SUMMARIES OF TARIFF INFORMATION

MODELS OF INVENTIONS AND OF OTHER IMPROVEMENTS IN THE ARTS

(PAR. 1720)

Tariff Status

Par. 1720. Models of inventions and of other improvements in the arts, to be used exclusively as models and incapable of any other use, which were free of duty under the Tariff Act of 1922, are free of duty also under the Tariff Act of 1930.

Trade Statistics

Table 1.- Models of inventions and of other improvements in the arts:
United States imports for consumption, by principal sources, in
specified years, 1937 to 1948

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Preliminary.

1,242

1,741

287

776

2,457 2,878

2/ All from Denmark.

3/ Includes imports from Mexico, valued at $1,000, and from Portugal, valued at $80.

All from Australia.

Source: Official statistics of the U. S. Department of Commerce.

Note. Data on production of models of inventions in the United States are not available. Statistics on exports of models of inventions are not separately reported.

UNITED STATES TARIFF COMMISSION

MODELS OF INVENTIONS AND OF OTHER IMPROVEMENTS IN THE ARTS
(PAR. 1720)

Comment

The models of inventions and of other improvements in the arts covered by this summary include only those which are used exclusively as models and incapable of any other use. The models covered by this summary include both fullscale models and accurate miniatures of the object depicted. The miniatures are large enough to demonstrate the function, and operation of the full-size article it represents.

Statistics on United States production of the models here under consideration are not available but the value of the output probably amounts to several million dollars a year. In the United States models are not required in applications for letters patent, and their chief use is probably for demonstration and for study to obtain further improvement.

United States imports of the models here under consideration are small. Before World War II they totaled less than $2,000 a year, in 1947 and 1948 annual imports were somewhat less than $3,000. These imports ordinarily originate in four or five countries. In 1948, a model of a building, valued at $500, was imported from Canada; models of machines and railroad cars, valued at $924, were imported from France; and a model of a record changer, valued at $305, was inported from the United Kingdom. This sample analysis is believed to be fairly

indicative of usual imports.

United States exports of models are not separately reported.

1/Models used for commercial purposes (for example a machine used in production) are dutiable.

SUMMARIES OF TARIFF INFORMATION

MONAZITE SAND AND OTHER THORIUM ORES
(PAR. 1721)

Tariff Status

Par. 1721. Monazite sand and other thorium ores, which were free of duty under the Tariff Act of 1922, are free of duty also under the Tariff Act of 1930.

Trade Statistics

Table 1.- Monazite sand and other thorium ores: United States
imports for consumption, by principal sources, in specified
years, 1937 to 1945 1/

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1/ Data not available for later years. 2/ Includes Burma in 1937.

3 Reported as coming from United Kingdom (these imports, however, were probably transshipments from India or other British Colonies).

From Netherlands Indies.

Source: Official statistics of the U. S. Department of Commerce.

UNITED STATES TARIFF COMMISSION

MONAZITE SAND AND OTHER THORIUM ORES
(PAR. 1721)

Comment

This summary covers monazite sand and other thorium ores. The mineral monazite, mined largely in the form of coastal sands, is a phosphate of cerium and other rare-earth metals (neodymium, praseodymium, lanthanum, etc.) and contains varying percentages of thorium oxide ranging from less than 1 to 18 percent. Monazite sand is the only commercial source of thorium as well as of cerium and the other rare-earth metals. Since thorium is a source material for atomic energy, monazite sand is under control of the United States Atomic Energy Commission. Little information can be published, therefore, on the uses, imports, and production of monazite sand after 1945. Cerite or cerium ore is discussed in a separate summary under paragraph 1644; cerium metal and alloys in a separate summary under paragraph 302 (p) (q); thorium metal and alloys in separate summaries under paragraph 302 (n); and thorium and cerium salts and compounds and gas mantle scrap in separate summaries under paragraph 87.

Monazite sand originally was processed principally for its thorium content, which was used in the manufacture of incandescent gas mantles, but with the development of electric lighting the demand for thorium for this purpose declined considerably. In more recent years, the commercial demand for monazite has depended more on its rare-earth metal content than on its content of thorium. An important use for the rare-earth oxides and fluorides has been in the manufacture of electrodes for arc lamps and searchlights. Another important product obtained from monazite sand is "misch" metal, which is composed principally of cerium, lanthanum, and other of the rare-earth metals. Misch metal is alloyed with iron in the production of pyrophoric alloys used largely for sparking flints that are components of such articles as cigarette lighters. Cerium compounds are used in the treatment of textiles for waterproofing and protection against mildew, in glass polishing, as a component of glass, in the manufacture of gas mantles, and in dyeing and printing textiles. Cerium metal is used in the evacuation of radio tubes and in certain aluminum and magnesium alloys. An important use of thorium is in radio-tube filaments to increase electron emission. Thorium is also used in tungsten-lamp filaments. Lanthanum compounds are used in beauty preparations.

Since 1910, the United States has depended almost entirely upon foreign sources for its supply of monazite sand. Monazite sand has been produced in North and South Carolina, Florida, and Idaho, but production has been reported in only very small amounts and in very few years since 1910.

Imports of the materials here considered averaged 769 short tons annually in the 1930's. During the war, imports increased considerably, averaging 2,798 short tons annually during the period 1940-45; in this period imports were the largest in 1943 when they amounted to 4,980 short tons (see table 1). Imports in 1944 and 1945 amounted to 384 tons and 549 tons, respectively. Data on imports since 1945 are not available for publication.

India supplied most of the imports during the 1930's with smaller quantities reported in some years from a few other countries, principally Brazil, Ceylon, the Netherlands Indies, and the United Kingdom. Imports recorded from the United Kingdom probably represented transshipments from India or from British colonies. During the period 1940-45, India supplied about three-fourths of the total imports and Brazil virtually all of the remainder. For many years India and Brazil have been the major sources of the world's monazite supply; in recent years, exports from these countries are reported to have been subject to close government supervision or control.

Statistics on domestic exports of monazite sand are not recorded separately, but it is believed that exports are nil.

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