J&t Slocomb Micrometer
J.t. Slocomb Micrometer

J. T. Slocomb Company v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue, 334 F.2d 269 (2d Cir. 1964)

Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit

While digging around at a (Indoor) flea market today, I picked up a 1'-2' Micrometer marked J.T.Slocum Providence RI, no patent dates, but I know it's not very old (looks like 1930's 40's as a guess) I did run across another one later with patent dates in the late 1890's but it was not in all that great of condition so I passed.

J&t Slocomb Micrometer

3 Vintage Micrometers L.S. Starrett Lufkin JT Slocomb Click Photos to Enlarge Description Up for auction is a Lot Of 3 Vintage Micrometers. Starrett#575B' V& US ST'D 14 to 20P Lufkin Rule Co. 611-T- 22 to 30 US& V J.T. 1 to 2 inch Check out the photos they tell it all. They are in good condition. Slocomb company was a tool company founded by John Tibbets Slocomb in 1891in Providence RI. The company later moved to Glastonbarry, CT and later produced aircraft engine parts and components.

334F.2d269

J. T. SLOCOMB COMPANY, Petitioner,
v.
COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE, Respondent.

No. 189.

Docket 28184.

United States Court of Appeals Second Circuit.

Argued January 30, 1964.

Decided June 30, 1964.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED Boris Kostelanetz, New York City (Corcoran, Kostelanetz & Gladstone, New York City, on the brief; Jules Ritholz, Lloyd A. Hale and Jon H. Hammer, New York City, of counsel), for petitioner.

Norman H. Wolfe, Attorney, U. S. Dept. of Justice (Louis F. Oberdorfer, Asst. Atty. Gen., Lee A. Jackson and I. Henry Kutz, attorneys, Dept. of Justice, Washington, D. C., on the brief), for respondent.

Before LUMBARD, Chief Judge, and WATERMAN and MARSHALL, Circuit Judges.

MARSHALL, Circuit Judge: Sugarhouse poker schedule.

1

The principal question presented on this petition is whether the Tax Court was justified in finding that the acquisition of the J. T. Slocomb Company by the shareholders of Green Machine Co., Inc. and Turbo Industries, Inc., and the subsequent merger of Green and Turbo into Slocomb was for the 'principal purpose * * * [of] evasion or avoidance of Federal income tax by securing the benefit of a deduction, credit or allowance which such person or corporation would not otherwise enjoy.' Internal Revenue Code of 1954, § 269.1 A subsidiary question is whether the corporation is entitled to deduct interest on a corporate obligation which the new shareholders acquired at the time they purchased control of the corporation.

2

We summarize the principal facts found by the Tax Court as follows. The J. T. Slocomb Company, a Rhode Island corporation, was incorporated in 1902 and for many years engaged in the business of manufacturing micrometers and center drills in a plant in Providence, Rhode Island. It was considered one of the four leading micrometer manufacturers in the United States, and its products enjoyed a high reputation for quality in the trade. Its capital stock in 1952 was owned entirely by Donald and William B. McSkimmon, the latter of whom died on March 11, 1953. Although the company was an important factor in the industry it operated at a loss from 1944 to 1953, and in October 1952 went into receivership. A mortgage on the property was then placed with one Albert Shore, d/b/a Trenton Finance Corp., in the sum of $142,000 and the proceeds were used to satisfy creditors' claims.

3

On October 30, 1953, Shore and Slocomb agreed with Aaron Krock & Co., auctioneers, to sell the company's properties at auction in order to satisfy the mortgage. The auction was held on November 19, 1953, and there were then sold all of the company's real estate, most of its machinery and machine tools, its raw materials, finished goods inventory, and office equipment. The remaining assets, which included name and good will, forging dies, jigs, milling fixtures, casting patterns, customers' lists, part drawings, consignment inventory and accounts receivable were retained by the company. However, its entire capital stock, and all shareholders' claims against Slocomb, were sold on December 9, 1953 to the National Printing Company for a total amount of $7,300, on which the auctioneer received a commission of 7½%. As of December 31, 1953, Slocomb's available net operating loss carry forward for income tax purposes, from the years 1950-1953, was $332,080.87.

4

Shortly after these events, National Printing Co. transferred the stock and debt which it held in Slocomb to the shareholders of Green and Turbo. The stock of these two corporations was owned by five individuals in the same ratio: four owned 21.62% each and one owned 13.52%. Both were Connecticut corporations with their offices in South Glastonbury, Connecticut. Green had been organized in 1946 and was engaged in the manufacture of precision parts for jet aircraft engines, principally as a subcontractor for Pratt & Whitney Aircraft Co. Turbo had been organized in May 1951 and was a developer of instrumentation techniques for aircraft; nearly all of its business came either from Pratt & Whitney or as a subcontractor from Green. The management of these two corporations had long been unhappy about their dependence on one large source of business, and had made numerous efforts to diversify into another line; some of these were concerned with aviation-related products but others were in a wholly different field of activity.

5

Prior to December 1953, the Green and Turbo managements were aware of Slocomb generally as a well-known and accepted manufacturer of micrometers. On or about December 10, 1953, Harley J. Brook, one of the officers of Green and Turbo, received a telephone call from a Mr. Albrecht, an attorney in Hartford who informed him that the J. T. Slocomb Company was for sale, at an asking price of $30,000. The attorney mentioned that Slocomb had a large loss carry-forward. Soon afterward two officers of Green and Turbo corporation went to Providence for a meeting with an agent for National Printing, then the owner of Slocomb's stock, and with Joseph Goodman, Slocomb's sales manager. After a discussion of the company's affairs, an inspection of what it had retained after the auction, and a check of its books, the men went back to Hartford and reported favorably on the prospects of manufacturing micrometers, using the Slocomb jigs and dies on machines at Green's plant in Glastonbury or through subcontracting facilities. The purchase of the stock from National was consummated on December 21. Slocomb's new management took steps to ascertain the state of the inventory on consignment, made contact with numerous suppliers, went ahead with development of a new, easier-reading type of micrometer called the 'speedmike,' and continued to service micrometers that were periodically sent back to the manufacturer for repair and adjustment. They transferred all phases of the micrometer business to the Connecticut plant, and retained only Mr. Goodman of the old employees.

6

Gross sales of micrometers and repairs dropped from $116,323.98 in 1953 to $41,396.04 in 1954, although they nearly doubled from that figure in 1955. By contrast, gross sales of the Green and Turbo divisions were $687,490.32 in 1953, $968,620.49 in 1954 and $1,291,856.27 in 1955.2

7

Green, Turbo, and Slocomb were merged into a single corporation on March 1, 1954. According to the petitioner's testimony, this was done to avoid bookkeeping costs and for other administrative reasons, and to keep the benefit of the Slocomb name, which was by far the best known of the three.

8

For the calendar year 1954, the merged corporation reported taxable income of $44,434.29 before a net operating loss deduction of that amount, thus eliminating all tax liability; for the calendar year 1955, the corporation reported a net income before net operating loss deduction of $136,355.49 and a deduction of that amount. The net operating loss deductions for both years were denied in full by the Commissioner.

9

J.t. Slocomb Micrometer

The facts relating to the interest deduction issue are as follows. Slocomb had accumulated an indebtedness of $166,766.62 to its former shareholders, the McSkimmons, which was carried on the books of the company in part as notes and in part as an open account. This debt was transferred to the National Printing Company on December 9. On December 19, after the purchase of the stock by the Green and Turbo group had bee

J T Slocomb