Classifications

• • D—TEXTILES; PAPER
  • D06—TREATMENT OF TEXTILES OR THE LIKE; LAUNDERING; FLEXIBLE MATERIALS NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
  • D06F—LAUNDERING, DRYING, IRONING, PRESSING OR FOLDING TEXTILE ARTICLES
  • D06F43/00—Dry-cleaning apparatus or methods using volatile solvents
• • D—TEXTILES; PAPER
  • D06—TREATMENT OF TEXTILES OR THE LIKE; LAUNDERING; FLEXIBLE MATERIALS NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
  • D06F—LAUNDERING, DRYING, IRONING, PRESSING OR FOLDING TEXTILE ARTICLES
  • D06F95/00—Laundry systems or arrangements of apparatus or machines; Mobile laundries 
  • D06F95/002—Baskets or bags specially adapted for holding or transporting laundry; Supports therefor
  • D06F95/004—Bags; Supports therefor
  • D06F95/006—Bags for holding the laundry during washing

Definitions

• the present invention relates to a method for the conditioning of fabrics, in particular the conditioning of fabrics in a tumble dryer, and to an article suitable for use in this method.
• the invention relates to a method for treating fabrics in a laundry dryer, comprising the steps of:
• the flexible sheet substrate can be made of any material suitable for conditioning fabrics in a tumble dryer.
• suitable substrate material include non-woven and woven fibrous structures, of natural and synthetic fibres and foams.
• the substrate comprises at least one flexible sheet substrate such as cotton substrates and non-woven substrates such as paper substrates and poly-urethane substrates.
• the flexible sheet substrate is a porous substrate, having a water absorption capacity (in grams of water per gram of substrate) of more than 1.0, more preferred more than 2.0, typically between 2.5 and 7.5. Particularly preferred is the use of a substrate of filter-paper.
• the upper surface area of the substrate article is preferably more than 0.5cm2, more preferred more than 1 cm2, typically from 1.5-100cm2.
• one or more substrates may be used in a method according to the invention. If substrates having the shape of a coarse flake are used, then usually more than one substrate, say for example from 5-500 flakes are used; if substrates having the shape of elongated strips are used, then conveniently also more than one substrate is used, say for example 3-100. If larger substrates are used, then often only one substrate will be used.
• the substrate may be impregnated with one or more cleaning materials.
• cleaning materials may be aqueous cleaning materials, but especially preferred is the use of non-aqueous "dry-cleaning" solvents.
• Suitable solvents of this type include the alcohols such as phenyl alcohol, phenyl propyl alcohol, benzyl alcohol, terpineol and propylene glycol, and other solvents such as terpenes, pinenes, silicones, tetrachloroethylene, benzyl benzoate, diethylphthalate, alkyl citrates and alkyl myristrate.
• terpenes, pinenes and volatile silicones are especially preferred.
• the add-on ratio in grams solvent per gram of substrate
• the add on ratio is more than 0.5, preferably more than 1.0, typically from 1.0 to 7.5.
• the add on ratio is more than 20% of the water absorption capacity, especially preferred from 25 to 100%, wherein 100% indicates full saturation of the substrate.
• the substrate may comprise other materials which are suitable for the treating of fabrics in a tumble dryer.
• One preferred class of materials for this purpose are capable of providing a fresh smell to the fabrics.
• These perfume ingredients may be present at low levels calculated on the weight of the substrate. Typical levels being from 0.01 to 20%, preferably from 0.5 to 10% based on the weight of the substrate. Surprisingly it has been found that when perfumes are applied to fabrics by the above mentioned method, the freshening effect is more pronounced than by applying the perfume from a substrate in the absence of the flexible container.
• the container After inserting the fabrics and the substrate articles in the flexible container, the container is closed.
• the closing of the flexible container does allow for one or more small apertures in the container, as long as these are small enough to prevent escape of the fabrics and the substrates during the tumbling of the flexible container in the laundry dryer. If volatile materials are used in combination with the substrate, it is however often preferred that the flexible container is completely closed to prevent escape of volatile material from the container during further use.
• the flexible container for use in a method according to the invention is preferably an air-impermeable bag, for example a heat resistant plastic bag.
• the size of the bag is not very critical, although it is preferred to use a bag having an internal volume which is greater than the volume of the fabrics to be treated.
• the bag containing the fabrics and the substrate is closed, preferably such that an amount of air is trapped within the bag to facilitate tumbling in the dryer.
• the tumble dryer for use in a method according to the invention may be a standard household tumble dryer.
• the dryer is operated at relatively low temperatures, the operating time will generally be from 1 to 100 minutes, preferably from 5 to 30 minutes.
• Such a set preferably comprises one or more flexible containers, preferably provided with means for closing these, and one or more flexible substrates, optionally impregnated as described above.
• the complete set may be enclosed in an outer pack, such as for example a carton box or a plastic wrap.
• a preferred embodiment of such a complete product comprises 2-20 plastic bags (preferably of a size of about 30x50 cm) and 10-1000g of paper substrate most preferably impregnated with non-aqueous solvents e.g. orange terpene and/or perfume ingredients.
• the amount of (optionally impregnated) substrate per bag is from 5-50g, more preferred from 10-30g.
• Fine sawdust material having an average particle size of 500 ⁇ m was impregnated with tetrachloroethylene up to its saturation.
• the add-on ratio of solvent to carrier was 2.5.
• a piece of cotton/polyester fabric of size 15 x 14cm soiled with 1g of oily soil (glycerol trioleate) was inserted in a plastic bag of 38 x 25 cm together with 10g of impregnated sawdust material. The bag was closed and tumbled in a tumble dryer (REVISAIR) for 20 minutes at the low temperature setting.
• REVISAIR tumble dryer
• the fabrics treated with orange terpene were preferred over the fabrics treated with TCE because of the fresher smell.
• Pieces of cotton towelling of 15g each were exposed to cigarette smoke. Their odour was assessed by a trained panel on a scale of 0 to 5, wherein 0 is no odour and 5 is an extremely strong odour.
• the pieces of fabric were enclosed in plastic bags of 38x25 cm together with 10g of paper strips as used in example 2, and tumbled in a REVISAIR dryer for 20 minutes on the cold setting. In a first set of experiments the paper strips were used as such. In other experiments the paper strips were impregnated with 5% by weight of the substrate of a perfume (Quest perfume 0035). The odour of the fabrics after treatment was assessed as described above. The following results were obtained. Odour Score TEST before treatment without perfume with perfume A 3.0 1.0 0.3 B 3.8 1.7 0.7 C 4.2 3.2 1.5

Landscapes

• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Textile Engineering (AREA)
• Treatments For Attaching Organic Compounds To Fibrous Goods (AREA)
• Detergent Compositions (AREA)
• Detail Structures Of Washing Machines And Dryers (AREA)
• Chemical Or Physical Treatment Of Fibers (AREA)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (1)

Family

ID=10664659

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (5)

Cited By (43)

Families Citing this family (4)

Citations (4)

Family Cites Families (6)

• 1989
  • 1989-10-16 GB GB898923285A patent/GB8923285D0/en active Pending
• 1990
  • 1990-10-09 CA CA 2027148 patent/CA2027148A1/fr not_active Abandoned
  • 1990-10-12 EP EP19900311187 patent/EP0429172A1/fr not_active Withdrawn
  • 1990-10-12 AU AU64594/90A patent/AU629055B2/en not_active Ceased
  • 1990-10-16 JP JP2277608A patent/JPH03130473A/ja active Pending

Patent Citations (4)

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