Fascinating court case brought against the USA by a company who rewinds Model T armatures
Posted: Sun Dec 01, 2024 5:52 pm
After rehabbing 20+ armature cores today for a big order I'm working on, I looked up a name stamped on a couple of old generator armatures. They had clearly been rewound at some time in their life, but no time in the near past. These looked OLD.
It turns out that "ARMEX" was a stamp used by a company named Armature Exchange back in the 1930's. They reference rewinding armatures "made 15 years ago" which would put it squarely in the "T" era. And I have a couple.
I found the text of a lawsuit they filed against the government (IRS) arguing they shouldn't have to pay excise taxes on sales because they were not the "manufacturer", only a service provider.
The lawsuit is circa 1939, for work done in 1933-1936. The most interesting part is the VERY lengthy and detailed description of how one goes about rewinding armatures.
And this tidbit:
"The rebuilt armatures are sold, in most instances, to jobbers who bring in old armatures in exchange — the plaintiff's charge being merely for the rewinding, and ranging from $2.50 to $22.50. If a sale is made to one who does not bring in an old armature, an added small charge of from fifty cents to a dollar is made for the core."
If ONLY I could get an armature rewound these days or $2.50! Today it's more like $200....
If only I could also get cores for $0.50 - $1.00 from Glen Chaffin
https://casetext.com/case/armature-exch ... ted-states
judgement was originally in favor of Armex, but reversed in 1941 in favor of the IRS. 2 things are certain in life..... Death and Taxes.
https://casetext.com/case/united-states ... e-exchange
I found the text of a lawsuit they filed against the government (IRS) arguing they shouldn't have to pay excise taxes on sales because they were not the "manufacturer", only a service provider.
The lawsuit is circa 1939, for work done in 1933-1936. The most interesting part is the VERY lengthy and detailed description of how one goes about rewinding armatures.
And this tidbit:
"The rebuilt armatures are sold, in most instances, to jobbers who bring in old armatures in exchange — the plaintiff's charge being merely for the rewinding, and ranging from $2.50 to $22.50. If a sale is made to one who does not bring in an old armature, an added small charge of from fifty cents to a dollar is made for the core."
If ONLY I could get an armature rewound these days or $2.50! Today it's more like $200....
If only I could also get cores for $0.50 - $1.00 from Glen Chaffin
https://casetext.com/case/armature-exch ... ted-states
judgement was originally in favor of Armex, but reversed in 1941 in favor of the IRS. 2 things are certain in life..... Death and Taxes.
https://casetext.com/case/united-states ... e-exchange