8472.90.40.00 - Pencil sharpeners

This HTS classification, 8472.90.40.00, specifically covers pencil sharpening machines. These are mechanical devices designed for the sole purpose of sharpening pencils by shaving away wood and graphite to create a writing point. This category encompasses a wide range of pencil sharpeners, from small, manual handheld units to larger electric desk models, provided their primary function is pencil sharpening.

It is important to distinguish this category from its siblings within heading 8472. For instance, addressing machines (8472.90.05.00) and automatic teller machines (8472.90.10.00) serve entirely different transactional or information dissemination purposes. Typewriters and word processors (8472.90.50.00) are devices for creating written text, while numbering, dating, and check-writing machines (8472.90.60.00) are used for marking or validating documents. This category is reserved exclusively for machines whose core function is the physical sharpening of pencils.

As a leaf node, HTS 8472.90.40.00 has no further subdivisions. Therefore, classification within this code depends on accurately identifying the article as a pencil sharpener. Any other office machinery, even if it involves cutting or shaping, would fall under the residual category 8472.90.90 if it does not fit into the more specific sibling categories.