DK147080B - SOFT SUBSTANCES FOR TRANSFER CONDITIONING FOR LAUNDRY - Google Patents

Description

147080 i

The present invention relates to a plasticizer-containing substrate for transferring conditioners to laundry by tumbling along with this in an automatic laundry dryer.

Laundry and other fibrous materials have been softened for many years by the application of a substantive softening compound to the wash or rinse water. The results obtained have been so unsatisfactory that better softening methods have been constantly tried. One such method has been to apply an emollient chemical from a flexible elastic paper, cloth or sponge substrate. When a paper substrate is used, it has been found that this tends to lie in the laundry being treated, and here the application of too much plasticizer causes a location with the resultant staining of the clothes. When using a flexible substrate such as paper or cloth, this will tend to be curled, twisted or squeezed into a smaller volume with consequent inhibited emollient release. In addition, the substrate can be filtered into the laundry so that it is difficult to find and remove after drying. From Danish Patent Specification No. 132345 and U.S. U.S. Patent No. 3,442,692 is known e.g. such flexible substrates having the above disadvantages. From the U.S. U.S. Patent No. 2,941,309 is known to have mold-resistant articles designed to dispense with its contents of water or wetting liquid to laundry, to ensure that the laundry has an adequate degree of moisture for ironing without prior notice. spattering. Such containers are not intended to provide a conditioning agent for modifying fibrous materials to soften them and make them antistatic, etc. The result of such use of said known articles would be a pronounced shielding on the fibrous materials treated.

It has now been found that the disadvantages of the prior art can be avoided by the plasticizer-containing substrate according to the invention, which is characterized in that the substrate is mold-resistant and is coated with at least part of its surface with a solid textile conditioning agent. which can be removed by contact with tumbling laundry in damp 1Λ7080 2 and / or heated condition and can be transferred to the laundry.

The mold-resistant matrix may e.g. be rigid foamed plastic of the form of a hollow sphere or other geometric shape, a coated band or a hemisphere or other geometric shape. The conditioner may be in solid form on the surface of any of the items described *

Under no circumstances can the surface of the conditioning article bend freely, thereby preventing the conditioner from peeling off and causing staining of the clothing due to an excessive concentration of the conditioner. Furthermore, it is completely excluded that the conditioning article can be rolled or twisted in such a way that the conditioning surfaces of the object are kept out of contact with the clothing to be treated.

As mentioned, an article of the invention is used to treat fibrous materials with conditioning agent during the drying process in the dryer.

The invention is further illustrated by means of the accompanying drawings, in which fig. 1 shows a central vertical cross-section through a softening agent-containing substrate for transferring conditioner in the form of a conditioning article showing the conditioning coating, a minor penetration of the coating into the article, and an interior mass used to modify the density of the article; FIG. 2 is a plan view of the article of FIG. 1 before use showing the conditioning coating; FIG. 3 is a plan view of the article of FIG. 1 after use showing the surface of the article after wearing the coating; 4 is a vertical cross-section through another form of conditioner; and FIG. 5 is a perspective view of an alternatively shaped conditioner having some surfaces coated with conditioning agent and others without coating.

In FIG. 1, a conditioner 10 is shown with a mold-resistant matrix 11, the surface 13 of which is coated with a textile conditioner 15, intended for abrasion on tumbling objects of laundry that come into contact therewith. Because polystyrene foam, such as the foam in the shown matrix, is usually so light, the density of the article can be adjusted by placing in it a weight amount 17 of heavier material. Such an amount of weight is shown to be centrally disposed, but may be cast on or placed centrally to form an eccentric weight conditioner. The number 19 shows the penetration of the conditioning material under the outer surface of the polystyrene foam.

In FIG. 2 and 3, images of the same conditioning object are shown before and after use. The text shows that the coating of conditioner has been removed and can be printed on the polystyrene or other substrate prior to coating, and is substantially covered by the conditioning material until it has been sufficiently removed to make it reasonable to remember. that the object must be replaced.

In FIG. 4 and 5 are shown other types of conditioning articles, both of which are only partially coated with conditioning material. In FIG. 4, a plate of mold-resistant matrix material 21 is coated with the fabric softening material 23 on the upper side. In FIG. 5 is shown a cardboard sealing or box 25, designed to be mold resistant and having surface antistatic agent 27, and another different surface conditioning agent 29 therefrom. Both can be applied simultaneously while treating fabric or other material to be conditioned.

4 147080

In using such an object of the embodiment shown in FIG. 1-5 in an automatic dryer or similar apparatus in which the material to be conditioned is caused to tumble around, a good uniform distribution of conditioner on the surface is obtained. Due to the shape-resistant nature of the object, it is not destroyed, nor is it unrolled, folded or easily buried or wrapped in laundry or other material that is conditioned. The coating does not crack and does not peel easily from the substrate because there are no excessive stresses due to folding and bending of the substrate.

The foundations to be coated with the conditioning product may consist of a wide variety of materials and constructions. It will generally be preferred that these have a light weight, so that the calculated density of the described geometric shape will be of the order of 0.01 g per liter. cm to 2 g per

3 cm, preferably from 0.2-0.5 g / cm cm. The mold-resistant substrate material can be either a synthetic or natural material. Various woods, such as balsa wood and other lightweight woods, wood material made of cellulose material, e.g. pressed wood, veneer, resin-treated wood and cardboard, lightweight minerals and rocks, e.g. vermiculite, talc, preferably surface treated for strength enhancement and synthetic organic polymeric plastics, preferably foamed plastics, e.g. polyurethane, polyester, polystyrene, polyvinyl chloride or nylon foam can be used. Perforated or expanded metals can also be used, provided that suitable means are provided which help to hold the coating material to the metal and prevent the coating from cracking and peeling. Hollow blanks can be used where only the exterior surfaces are coated with the conditioner. Such blanks can be formed by folding, molding, casting, bonding, melting, stacking or similar joining of the various parts thereof to produce the desired final shape. In order to facilitate contact with tumbling laundry and to facilitate the application of conditioner to the surface of the laundry in a uniform manner, it is generally preferred that there be a minimum of sharp corners on the coated article and the curves will generally be convex. Although the matrix must be mold resistant to avoid the various disadvantages of flexible substrates for conditioners, it is not necessary to be absolutely rigid. Although the rigid form of plastic is the one that will be commonly used, a limited surface flexibility can be tolerated as in a rubber ball of either natural or synthetic rubber, since such a structure under the condition of application of the conditioner will not be adversely affected. Unlike sheets of paper or clothing or ordinary thin mushroom strips, even after a slight deformation of the matrix, it will also quickly regenerate its shape. In connection with ordinary drying of laundry in an automatic drier, the bed mass is that the matrix to achieve the best possible contact in the drier with the treated articles has a volume of from 5 cm to 500 cm, preferably from 10 to 100 cm ^. Such sizes are found to tumble best with the laundry and provide the best coating. They are also more easily located, so that the used conditioner is more easily extracted after use when compared to very small particles or material beads. Nevertheless, it is quite clear that different sizes can be used.

The conditioning agents which can be used to coat the matrix are the usual plasticizers and antistatic agents. The conditioners may contain other compounds which impart other desirable properties to the treated laundry or fabric, such as antibacterial, antimicrobial, clarifying and perfuming effects, etc. For some applications, several conditioners may be combined in the same product, and for other applications, separate conditioners or products are found on different parts of the matrix.

Of the fabric softening and antistatic agents, a wide variety of nonionic, anionic and cationic agents can be used. These are usually surfactants and can be used individually or in mixtures.

6 147080

Among the nonionic fabric softeners and antistatic agents which may be used are poly lower alkoxy lower alkylene glycols, the block copolymers of various lower alkylene glycols, the higher fatty alcohol esters of poly lower alkylene glycols, the higher fatty alcohols of polyethylene glycols. lower alkylene glycols, similar compounds in which triols such as glycerol and polyols such as pentaerythritol replace the glycol moiety, and other known nonionic conditioning agents containing tuned hydrophilic and lipophilic groups which contribute to their surfactant and conditioning properties. The lower alkylene and lower alkoxy groups usually contain from 2-5 carbon atoms, and the higher fatty groups have 10-20, preferably 12-18 carbon atoms. The molecular weights of the various polymeric moieties in the molecules are usually at least 150 and preferably from 500 to 25,000, but under certain conditions higher and lower molecular weight polymer moieties can also be used. Also useful are the amides, including the alkanolamides, e.g. the higher fatty amides and higher fatty acid mono- and di-lower alkanolamides in which the carbon content is as previously stated.

The anionic conditioning agents can be many different surfactant anionic plasticizers and antistatic agents, including the well-known water-soluble sodium, potassium, ammonium, or magnesium salts of the synthetic anionic organic detergents such as higher fatty alcohol sulfates, the higher fatty alcohol sulfates, the linear higher alkylbenzene sulfonates, the higher fatty acyl taurides and isethiolates, the higher fatty acid monoglyceride sulfates, and the higher fatty acid carcosides and glycines. Generally, the cation from such compounds will be an alkali metal or other water-soluble radical or element, and in the lipophilic portion of the molecule, the anionic moiety, the higher fatty or higher acyl groups will have 10-20 carbon atoms, preferably 12-18 carbon atoms. In addition to synthetic organic detergents, primarily of the sulfated and sulfonated types, other similar materials available, such as the phosphates and borates, can be used. Also important is the softening effect of the usual soaps commonly referred to as water-soluble, which are alkali metal, ammonium or substituted ammonium soaps of higher fatty acids, e.g. sodium stearate, trietha = nolamine laurate.

7 147080

Among the cationic plasticizers, the water-soluble quaternary ammonium salts are particularly preferred, but similarly quaternary phosphorus phonium salts and related materials may also be suitable. The quaternary ammonium compounds form a known group of substance softeners and have been described in the literature as being useful for this purpose. They will usually contain a large number of lower alkyl groups on the quaternary nitrogen, and one or two higher alkyl or equivalent groups thereon. The salt-forming ion will preferably be a halide such as chloride or bromide, but may also be other salt groups including iodide, acetate, benzoate, saccharinate, methosulfate, ethosulfate and bisulfate. Examples of such cationic compounds of the quaternary type are cetyltrimethylammonium bromide, dimethyldilaurylammonium chloride, diethyldistearylammonium chloride, dimethyl di (hydrogenated tallow alkyl) ammonium chloride, stearyldimethyl benzylammonium chloride and laurylmethyl dichloride. Also suitable are numerous other cationic compounds such as alkyl pyridinium salts, alkyl imidazolines, higher alkyl amines of the primary, secondary or tertiary types, and higher alkylguanidinium salts, e.g. 1-methyl-1-stearylaminoethyl-2-stearylimidazolinium methosulfate, stearylpyridinium halides, cetylisoquinolinium bromide and alkylmorpholinium chlorides. In the aforementioned cases, lower alkyl has 1-5 carbon atoms and higher alkyl 10-20 carbon atoms. Mixtures of the nonionic conditioning agents can be used with either the anionic or cationic plasticizers or antistatic agents, and with a wide variety of other conditioning agents. However, mixtures of anionic and cationic agents will generally be avoided due to adverse reactions. However, amphoteric conditioners can also be used.

To improve the properties of the conditioning agents either physically or chemically, various other substances can be incorporated therein to improve their softening properties, softening points, water solubility, resistance to cracking and peeling and hardness and to render them non-stainable and easily removable from treated substances. . The finished plasticizer product should be readily transferable to the substrate and should have a viscosity that promotes partial penetration into the substrate but retains most of the plasticizer on its surface. The softening properties of the product must be good, but the softener must, however, be easily and completely removed from the treated fabric by washing, and staining of the treated laundry must of course be completely avoided.

Generally, the conditioning agent and modifying agents, as desired, are selected together so as to obtain the most favorable results for the manufacture, shipment and storage. It has been found that coating materials of waxy appearance are best, and preference is given to conditioners of this kind which are sufficiently hard in themselves to be used without modifiers. When other materials are used in the coating materials, they preferably constitute a minor portion thereof, and generally from 50-100%, preferably from 80-100% of the coating material, must be effective conditioning agent.

The thickness of the coating found on the surface of the treatment article will generally range from 0.0005 to 0.5 cm, but the extreme values within this range are only rarely useful. Typically, the thickness will be from 0.002 to 0.3 cm, and preferably between 0.01 and 0.1 cm. In this context, it is meant the thickness found outside the surface of the coated article. An article with a porous or rough surface or with depressions in the surface may have part of the applied conditioning agent penetrated below the surface at a sufficient depth that the outer coating is firmly adhered to the surface and prevented from cracking or peeling off the surface during use. Thus, a smaller portion of the conditioning agent may be present beneath the surface. It is usually desirable that this portion be kept as small as possible because the conditioning material beneath the surface of the matrix will often be inaccessible for application to the laundry and thus will be lost. The amount of coating material beneath the surface will generally be from 10-30% of the amount outside the matrix. Expressed as applied weight amounts, the condition will. The nutrient product is usually used in an amount 2 of 0.0005 - 0.5 g / cm. of pulp surface, preferably 0.002 - 0.3, 2 2 g / cm and most preferably from 0.01 - 0.1 g / cm.

9 147080

In order for the conditioner product to be best utilized under the conditions of use in a normal automatic home laundry dryer, it should be at least partially water-soluble or dispersible at a temperature within the normal temperature range through which a dryer operates. It must also be mold resistant at temperatures below 30 ° C so that it does not run off the substrate during storage, where temperatures may be at about this value.

In the dryer, the hot air flow, which is initially blown through the damp or wet clothes, will have the temperature greatly reduced due to the evaporation of water from the clothes and the decrease of the surface temperature of the clothes to the temperature of the wet mass. Under such conditions where the temperature can drop to 10 ° C, the removal of the conditioning agent from the treatment article may initially be due in part to softening of the article in the presence of moisture in the clothing. As the temperature of the dryer then increases, the coated article is heated and softened so that trimming of the conditioner to the laundry takes place more easily. In the described types of bases and sizes, the small amounts of conditioning agent which are rubbed off on the clothes are then distributed over the clothes by a combined effect of moisture and heat, together with the abrasive effects of other substances affecting the points at which the conditioning agent has become. transferred.

Such an effect is so rapid that there is little opportunity for depositing too much conditioner, provided it does not peel off from the treatment object.

The preparation of the present drug treatment article is relatively simple. The suitable conditioning agent material is made of a solution, emulsion, dispersion or a sprayable material or, as is often preferred, as a melt. When melt is used, the surface is cooled immediately after application and the melt solidifies. When solutions are used, the solvent content therein will usually be from 20-80%, preferably about 20%. 20-40%, bearing in mind that it is not necessary to completely dissolve the conditioner material. If deemed appropriate, the viscosity of the coating material may be adjusted by temperature control, or thickening agents may be added thereto, provided that they have no detrimental effects on the laundry to be conditioned. The conditioner material is applied to the desired thickness of the matrix used either in a single step or in a series of repeated steps in which the melt is cooled after each application or the solvent is evaporated to form a dry and mold resistant coating on the matrix. Penetration into the raw surface of the matrix can be controlled by adjusting the viscosity of the material, or by modifying the surface of the matrix to provide indentations or other structures into which the coating material can penetrate. In some cases, such as when using polymeric plastic foams, any rough edges thereof which could possibly seize into the laundry tumbling around are removed prior to application of the coating material.

The use of the present products is simple and without problems.

In fact, one of the greatest advantages of the present objects is that they can be used by unskilled persons to condition laundry easily and accurately. Thus, it is only necessary that the user take one or more of the treatment items from a package and add this or these to the dryer together with the laundry to be dried. In order to obtain combined conditioning effects, a mixture of different conditioning articles, on a single object or articles with different conditioning agents, may be applied to different parts thereof. The items will usually be added after the laundry has been placed in the dryer and immediately before the drying operation begins. The invention is especially conceived for use in automatic home laundry dryers of the types in which a heated air stream is sent directly into a rotating drum containing laundry tumbling around. However, it is also applicable in commercial and industrial dryers and tumble dryers operating under similar conditions. Although both heat and circulating air are normally expected to be used, in both cases it may be unnecessary to use both of these. Sometimes it may be sufficient for the laundry to tumble around in contact with the treatment object even without drying air or heat. In such cases, the drying can be done afterwards. However, washing the laundry around in a rotating drum is important. If the drum is too full, so that the laundry is only carried around with the drum even with the present treatment gene 11, contact between the conditioning material and the substance to be treated may occur too long in one place, which may cause staining with the certain materials. To prevent this and ensure a relative movement between the laundry and the conditioner, whereby moving laundry rubs against the conditioner, the amount of laundry in a home dryer should normally be from 2 to 5 kg dry weight so as not to fill the entire dryer, thereby preventing tumbling. Such weight amounts of laundry will generally take up from 10 to 70 $ of the volume of the dryer and preferably take from 30 to 60 $ thereof. In addition to the free volume of the dryer, the rotational speed of the drum is important. To have good relative tumbling effects between the article and the laundry, this should be approx. 20-100 rpm, and is preferably approx. 40-80 rpm. Under such conditions, the laundry moves quickly past the conditioner and excellent transfer of the conditioner is achieved. Drying will usually take from 5 minutes to 2 hours, generally between 20 minutes and 1 hour, when the drying gas used is frequently circulated with gas volume change in the dryer at a rate of approx. 5 to 50 pr. and the gas temperature is 10 to 90 °, preferably 50 to 90 ° C.

The presence of wings or other interruptions on the inside of the rotary drum helps to produce a good tumbling effect. This is important because the height from which the laundry or conditioner falls and the weight thereof affect the force at which contact between the object and the laundry occurs and affects the amount of conditioner that is cut off on the laundry. As was to be expected, the longer the dimming continues, the more uniform the conditioning agent will be distributed and the more applied. However, although the distribution is not completely uniform, however, good conditioning effects due to the softening of the fibers are achieved a sufficient number of places, so that the total effect is a softness due to the intermittent softening sites at which the fabric is flexible.

At the end of the softening treatment, the softening object is sampled and examined. If sufficient plasticizer is baked, the article can be used again until the coating is completely removed. In order to obtain different degrees of conditioning effect or different conditioning effects, a number of treatments may be used once or in succession. After the coating has been used up, the matrix can be discarded or, if desired, provided with a new coating. Coating materials of the types described herein can be negotiated in suitable solvents or in other systems which allow the user to repaint the basics if desired.

Thus, materials can be made water repellent, antibacterial, fungicidal, perfumed, clear or bleached, but preferably the conditioning method comprises fabric softening and / or producing substances which are free of static electricity and / or non-curling. The compounds used as plasticizers have been previously described. They may contain additional compounds, such as release agents, or they may be used alone.

The automatic laundry dryer or equivalent machine used is any of the well-known or commercially known or industrial types of such machines. These are generally gas or electric dryers which contain a drum which rotates about a generally horizontal axis and which have openings therein for passing drying air through the drum and through the laundry which is disposed therein. The front of such machines will usually have an outwardly swinging door which is located substantially vertically and closes the substantially cylindrical dryer to prevent the laundry from being removed from it unless the door is opened. Dryers of this type usually have drums having a diameter of between 0.5 and 1.5 m, and home-use machines usually have a diameter of 0.7 to 1 m. The generally cylindrical shape of the dryer can be modified by being rounded or cone-shaped in various places thereon, and will usually contain inner blades, wings or other projections, which help to ensure satisfactory tumbling of the laundry being treated. The dryer and door will usually be made of porcelain-coated or enamelled metal, but plastics, reinforced plastics, specialty glass or ceramics or other suitable construction materials may also be used. The door of the dryer may have a transparent portion of synthetic organic polymer or glass, so that the user may consider the laundry and the conditioner used in the dryer in accordance with the present invention.

The following examples are given to illustrate various embodiments of the invention. Unless otherwise indicated, all parts are parts by weight, temperatures in ° C and dimensions of the metric system.

Example 1.

Polystyrene foam balls of 1 cm cut from a styrofoam sheet are coated by dipping repeatedly and solvent evaporation using an aqueous alcohol-solution suspension of a block copolymer of ethylene oxide and propylene oxide having a molecular weight of approx. 2,000 sold as Pluronic S-127 by Wyandotte Chemical Company, sodium talc alcohol sulfate slurry comprising 28 $ active ingredient, 6 $ sodium sulfate and 66 $ water, and ethanol (SD40 alcohol). The ratio of ingredients used is 2: 1: 1. The evaporation of the solvent takes place by heating and blowing with room temperature air. The coated balls are made with a density of approx. 0.2 g / cm 2 due to an internal weight content for density adjustment. Prior to coating, the polystyrene balls were smoothed using a fine sandpaper or polish brush to remove any rough edges thereon which could be entangled in the laundry to be conditioned. The total thickness of the deposited coating is approx. 0.2 cm, and is found on the entire surface of the polystyrene balls. The amount of weight applied to the conditioner is from 6 to 12 g, 9 g.

In use, one such conditioning article is added to an automatic home-use laundry dryer of the type having a horizontally arranged rotating drum, after the addition of 4 kg of mixed laundry, of which approx. $ 50 is made of synthetic material and $ 50 is cotton or rayon. The synthetic materials used include nylon, polyester and cotton blends, and other synthetic fabrics, including nylon prone to electrostatic effects. Some of the materials are resin coated "permanently pressed". Immediately after the addition of the conditioning ball, drying is started, and drying air at a temperature of 70 ° C is forced through the dryer at a speed of 5,000 l / min, while the drum rotates at a speed of approx. 60 rpm Initially, the temperature of the wet laundry is approx. 20 ° C, but after drying is almost increased to almost 0 ° C.

70 C. The conditioning coating on the surface thereof is slightly softened initially, due to the action of water and some heat in contact therewith, and when the temperature of the ball becomes considerably higher, approx. 60 ° C, the coating becomes plastic.

After 50 min. drying stops the machine and the laundry is removed. It is satisfactorily dry, possesses no electrostatic activity, and feels soft in comparison to a corresponding portion which has not been treated with the conditioner of the invention. The clothes that have been treated in the dryer have not been stained due to excessive contact with conditioner. The guide ball is easily found among the laundry and removed. Upon examination, it turns out that approx. 2 g of plasticizer from the surface, which means that the ball can be used again. When used again, more softener is removed, and finally the sphere is almost completely freed of plasticizer on the surface. However, a closer examination reveals that the bullet still contains 2 g of plasticizer that has not been released to the tumbling laundry.

When, instead of using the combination of anionic and nonionic softeners, a similar amount of each is used separately, so that 2 to 3 g of plasticizer is applied to the conditioning article, good softening effects and no staining are found. In the case of the anionic plasticizer, the addition of ca. 10% paraffin or higher fat monoglycus helps prevent peel-off of plasticizer during tumbling in the dryer. To this effect, the conditioning agent also aids beneath the surface of the closed cell polystyrene = sphere, which is related to the outer material.

Similar effects are obtained by using other forms of mold-resistant matrixes made from other lightweight materials, e.g. cardboard, wood, mineral and other synthetic organic plastics. When other anionic or nonionic softeners and antistatic agents such as the higher fatty acid soaps, monoglyceride sulphates, linear alkylbenzene sulfonates or the higher ethers and esters of polyoxyethylene glycol are used, good conditioning effects are also obtained.

Example 2 3g of a quaternary ammonium chloride plasticizer and antistatic agent of the type known as Arquad, a product of the Armor Chemical Company, are applied to both main surfaces of a foam of rigid rigid polyurethane having about twice the surface area as described in Example 1. bullets, and for other matrixes with similar surface areas including cardboard cubes, polystyrene foam balls and balsa wood discs. The application of the latter three types of structure is repeated by spraying. The particular quaternary compound used is dimethyl, di- (hydrogenated tallow alkyl) ammonium chloride and it is included in the solution suspension ion, 4-0 $ of total weight is aqueous alcoholic solvent, of which $ 80 is water and $ 20 isopropanol. Most of the surface of the various matrixes is coated with the conditioning agent and the solvent evaporates rapidly. By comparison, a similar amount of conditioning agent is similarly transferred to a paper towel of similar area using both sides of the towel. In the various cases, except where the paper towel has been impregnated with plasticizer, the penetration of the agent under the outer surface of the matrix is maintained at approx. 20 $ of what is left without due to the surface of the pulp. In the paper towel, the coating material completely impregnates the towel and the conditioning agent therein constitutes more than half the thickness of the outer matrix deposited.

The various conditioning articles are tested by addition to laundry portions treated in the same washer and dryer in the same manner as described in Example 1. Upon completion of treatment, it is difficult to find it softened with plasticizer.