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
  • 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 device and a method for washing garment items.
• the invention concerns a device that allows different coloured garments and non-coloured garments or light-coloured garments to be washed in the same cycle without the colour, released by the coloured garments, damaging the non-coloured or light-coloured garments.
• the invention furthermore concerns a device for washing garments which prevents damage thereof during washing and reduces the water present in the garment at the end of the cycle.
• Pieces of non-woven fabric which are placed in the washing machine together with the garments to be washed, for the purpose of absorbing and retaining the dye released by the garment and preventing colouring of the lighter-coloured garments, are known and available on the market. Examples of said products are for example described in WO 2007083335, EP1621604, US 3694364 and EP1592769; in all these cases fabrics or non- woven fabrics are impregnated with chemicals that "capture" the dye molecules, if possible before the dye molecules reach the fabric of the other garments.
• these elements i.e. pieces of fabric, are not able to prevent part of the dye released by some garments coming into contact with the other garments, thus they only absorb a certain amount of dye.
• the above-mentioned absorbing elements are used only for washing coloured garments that have similar colours; white or light-coloured garments are not washed together with dark-coloured garments as the pieces of impregnated fabric are not able to retain all the dye molecules.
• a further problem of the products consisting of impregnated pieces of textiles is the difficulty of producing them, since it is difficult and costly to impregnate non-woven fabrics, which in themselves are not particularly absorbent, to ensure that the chemical compounds that capture the dye molecules are deposited on the piece of fabric in a sufficiently stable manner so that the latter can be re-used at least a few times. Furthermore, the production processes for these products are particularly costly: in some cases the non- woven fabric has to be treated in an autoclave to adsorb enough chemical. Another problem is the presence of chemical compounds in the washing water; said compounds are initially present on the piece of fabric that absorbs the colours but they can deposit on the garments being washed.
• US 4494264 describes a container for washing coloured and non-coloured garments in the same wash; the container is made of natural or synthetic fibres having chemical affinity with the dyes of the fabrics of the garments to be washed; for said purpose the fibres are chemically treated (grafted) to graft functional groups onto them.
• a further widespread problem is that of preventing damage to the garments during washing, in terms of both dimensional alteration of the garment, which is deformed or shrunk after the washing cycle, and felting of the garment, in particular for woollen products.
• DE 20104636 describes a container for washing garments made with woven microfibres.
• the advantages described are the action of the microfibres on the garment to be washed (p. 2 last paragraph) and retaining of the particles of dirt between the microfibres, with the consequent possibility of using less detergent.
• the object of the present invention is to solve the above problem and provide a device that permits simultaneous washing of coloured and non-coloured garments.
• a further object of the invention is to improve the washing conditions for garments in general and for woollen garments in particular.
• the term "washing" indicates the entire washing cycle and also the individual phases thereof, including the drying phase, where the containers of the invention provide the following advantages.
• the container is made of a textile product, i.e. a fabric or a non-woven fabric which is permeable to water and has a Kainka permeability between 20 and 2000, more preferably between 40 and 1000 and even more preferably between 40 and 400.
• the textile material of the container allows the passage of the water in a way so as not to obstruct the passage thereof through the container during washing.
• the textile material preferably has a permeability to water vapour measured with DIN 53122-1 of between 2000 and 10,000 g/m 2 *24h, preferably between 4500 and 8100 g/m 2* 24h.
• the permeability to air measured with DIN EN ISO 9237 is preferably between 25 and 95 l/dm 2 *min, more preferably between 30 and 85 l/dm 2* min and even more preferably between 35 and 80 l/dm 2* min.
• the weight in grams is between 50 and 150 g/m 2 , preferably between 60 and 130 g/m 2 and more preferably between 70 and 130 g/m 2 .
• a preferred gram weight is 100 g/m 2 .
• Preferred materials are non-woven fabrics obtained by spunbonding or spunlacing, from extrusion of thermoplastic filaments which are then stretched in an air current and deposited on a mobile support to form a non- woven fabric.
• the filaments thus obtained are then bonded, preferably by jets of water at high pressure (jetbonding).
• the preferred embodiment uses filaments (more precisely monofilaments) from coextrusion of different materials (e.g. polyester and polyamide) positioned side by side to form different portions of one single filament; when they undergo the above- mentioned jetbonding process, the filaments split to give a plurality of sub- filaments which generate an intricate "labyrinth" type structure of microfibres. The structure remains the same even with different gram weights and material finish. Polyester and polyamide are preferably used in a ratio of 70/30.
• the filaments of polyester (70% w/w) are of approximately triangular section with two sides that measure from 6.5 to 7.5 ⁇ m and one side of approximately 3 ⁇ m ( ⁇ 0.20dTex).
• the filaments of polyamide (30% w/w) are also triangular with two sides which measure from 6.5 to 7.5 ⁇ m and one side of 2 ⁇ m ( ⁇ 0.10dTex).
• Evolon ® An example of a product produced in this way is marketed by Freudenberg under the name Evolon ®.
• the devices for obtaining these types of filaments and fabrics are available for example from Fare SpA (IT) and from Reifenhauser (DE).
• An example of process for producing a suitable product is described in US 6815382 and in WO2008072278.
• the textile material is impregnated with a chemical compound for capturing the dyes such as defined, for example, in the patents referred to above, WO 2007083335, EP1621604, US 3694364 and EP1592769.
• the container is made, at least externally and in a substantially continuous manner, of the fabric so that the above-mentioned textile material forms a barrier to the passage of dye from the inside of the container to the outside, and vice versa.
• the opening for introduction of the garments into the container 1 is provided with sealed closing means 2, such as zips, Velcro and similar, which are preferably further covered by a flap 3 of textile material in turn fixed with known means 4 (e.g. other Velcro) on the outside of the container, as shown in fig. 1.
• Pillowcases and cushion covers made with the textile material of the invention are excluded from the scope of the invention.
• the invention furthermore concerns a method for washing garments, characterised in that it comprises a phase of separately placing the coloured and non-coloured garments in at least one container, preferably two containers, of the type described above.
• the coloured garments are grouped according to colour, or according to similar colours, and placed in corresponding containers.
• the washing conditions are those indicated in the garment labels.
• a further object of the invention is the use of textile materials as defined above in the production of containers for washing according to the present invention.
• Textile materials of this type for use in the present invention are commercially available and are for example fabrics known for protection against mites, consisting of coated fabrics or preferably non-woven fabric. Suitable materials are materials permeable to water which pass the allergy tests "TUV PROOF).katalog - Fur Allergiker good - fur Bett-, Kissen- und Matratzen ⁇ berz ⁇ ge, Stand 04/2005" of TUV Rheinland Arts undmaschine GmbH (Cologne).
• the invention has the advantage of permitting the simultaneous washing of white and coloured garments without mixing the colours. This results in savings in water, detergent and energy. Furthermore, the containers according to the invention have the further effect of protecting the so-called delicate garments, avoiding phenomena of felting and/or dimensional variations of said garments. A further advantage is the possibility of using the containers according to the present invention for washing garments provided with metal elements such as bras with metal hooks, garments with zips and similar, sequins and decorations, prints etc., placing them all in the container. A further advantage is that it was found a prolonged fastness of the original colours of the washed garments.
• microfibres help the cleaning action of the detergent with their mechanical action on the fibres of the garment; said mechanical action furthermore "brushes" the garment, thus improving its appearance.
• woollen garments after washing in a microfibre container, wool fibres are deposited inside the container and the garment removed from the container after washing has an improved appearance.
• a further advantage is the fact that, when the spinning phase begins in the washing cycle, the container adheres to the drum of the washing machine so that the garment is not subjected to a textile "shock" with damage thereof with possible dimensional alterations and/or felting; this advantage is particularly important for silk and woollen garments.
• a further advantage is given by the fact that, thanks to the filtering action of the fabric, the container allows the detergent to penetrate inside it only when it is sufficiently diluted in water. In this way the container avoids the action of the concentrated or powdered detergent on the fibres and prevents damage to the same and possible felting of woollen garments.
• An object of the invention is therefore the use of the containers described above to prevent undesired colouring of differently coloured garments in the same wash, i.e. to wash different coloured garments simultaneously and prevent the dye released into the washing water from colouring differently coloured garments.
• a further object of the invention is a container for washing garments characterised in that it is made of microfibre and/or microfilaments.
• microfibre and microfilaments indicates fibres and filaments with dtex value equal to or below 1.3, preferably with microfibres obtained from split filaments having an approximately triangular section with two sides which measure from 6.5 to 7.5 ⁇ m and one side between approximately 2 and 3 ⁇ m ( ⁇ 0.20dTex).
• containers are not necessarily of the type able to provide a barrier to passage of the dye, since also containers with dust permeability values higher than those claimed here, but made of microfibre non-woven fabrics as indicated above, are able to provide a mechanical action to aid washing, prevent damage to the garments and increase elimination of the water from the garment.
• the container described above both of the microfibre type and of the type that provides a barrier to the passage of dyes, has the advantage that it can be a support for decorations and/or information. Said decorations and information can be of any type and comprise for example advertising messages, in particular relative to detergents and washing machines.
• the container according to the invention (preferably of the dye barrier type) is sold in combination with a garment and is generally sized in proportion to said garment to be used as a washing container for the same.
• the container is advantageously provided with information concerning the garment with which it is sold, for example the type of fibre and the washing instructions for said garment.
• a further subject of the present invention is therefore the use of a container of the type described above as a support for decorations and/or information.
• fig. 1 is a schematic view of an embodiment of the device according to the invention
• fig. 2-3 are electron microscope photographs of non-woven fabrics according to the invention
• fig. 4 is a photograph of the results of the permeability tests on fabrics according to the invention
• fig. 5 is a diagram of the equipment to be used for performing the
• the fabrics suitable for use as containers in the present invention are those classifiable as having permeability up to 4000 particles, preferably between 20 and 4000, in the Kainka test.
• the Kainka test is a method of assessing the permeability of a solid particle fabric with pre-set dimensions. This test allows fabrics and non-woven fabrics to be assessed and classified regardless of the dimensions of the free portions between the fibres, said portions being difficult to quantify, especially in non-woven fabrics and coated fabrics.
• Fig. 2 and 3 are examples of non-woven fabrics (Evolon ®) suitable for the invention, from which the complexity of their labyrinth structure can be seen.
• Evolon ® non-woven fabrics
• a detailed description of the test can be found in Pneumologie, vol. 51 (1997), pp. 2-9 and in Allergo Journal, 9 (2000), pp. 261-270. These publications are included here by reference; a summary of the test is also provided below.
• Kainka test particles with dimensions between 1 and 5 microns have been considered. The test can be described as follows.
• the tests are performed in a large 5 m 3 dust chamber.
• the material to be tested was uniformly distributed by means of a dust generator with continuous control. Using a gate pump and a power of 6 m 3 per hour, air containing fine carbon dust was sucked for one hour through the head of the filter with the respective test material and the polycarbonate filter. The test duration of one hour was sufficient for the emission of particles and to obtain repeatable results.
• a circular sample of the test material having a diameter of 47 mm is fixed on a filtering device. Behind the test material there is a polycarbonate membrane filter with pores having diameter of 0.4 ⁇ m. A set volume of air is sucked through the test material and the filter.
• the original volumetric flow rate of the pump is 6 m 3 /hour; with the membrane filter, the flow rate is reduced to 0.9 m 3 /hour and the test is performed for one hour.
• a continuous flow of test particles is directed onto the test material.
• the test particles consist of particles of carbon, which are generated by mechanical grinding of an element produced from carbon dust compressed under high pressure.
• the diameter of the test particles varies from 0.1 to 20 ⁇ m.
• the number of test particles located on the filter is quantified by means of a scanning electron microscope (SEM) and is used as an index of the permeability of the test material to the fine particles.
• SEM scanning electron microscope
• Quantification of the number of particles deposited on the membrane filter is performed at a magnification of 5,000 x, determining the number of particles in the range between 1 and 5 ⁇ m located in 30 fields of 17.1 x 17.1 ⁇ m with a total area of 8,750 ⁇ m 2 .
• Each test includes the examination of two samples of test material and two counts of 30 fields according to the procedure described above. The mean of the number of particles / 8,750 ⁇ m 2 is used as an index of the permeability of the test material to the particles.
• textile products both woven and non-woven fabrics
• permeability values to 1-5 ⁇ m particles of between 20 and 4000, preferably between 20 and 2000, more preferably between 40 and 1000 and even more preferably between 40 and 400.
• the Kainka test can be performed for example at the "HYGIENE-INSTITUT DES RUHRGEBIETS", GELSENKIRCHEN (DE).
• the textile material of the container furthermore, allows the passage of the water in a way such as not to obstruct the passage thereof through the container during washing.
• the textile material preferably has a permeability to water vapour measured with DIN 53122 in the range of 2000 to 10,000 g/m 2 *24h, preferably in the range of 4500 to 8100 g/m 2 *24h.
• the permeability to air measured with DIN EN ISO 9237 is preferably in the range of 25 to 95 l/dm 2* min, more preferably in the range of 30 to 85 l/dm 2 *min and even more preferably in the range of 35 to 80 l/dm 2 *min.
• the weight in grams is in the range of 50 to 150 g/m 2 , preferably in the range of 60 to 130 g/m 2 and more preferably in the range of 70 to 130 g/m 2 .
• a preferred gram weight is in the range of 100 to 130 g/m 2 .
• Textile materials for use in the present invention are commercially available and are for example coated fabrics or preferably non-woven fabrics. Suitable materials are materials permeable to water which pass the allergy tests "TUV PROOF).katalog - Fur Allergiker good - fur Bett-, Kissen- und Matratzen ⁇ berz ⁇ ge, Stand 04/2005" of TUV Rheinland Arts undmaschine GmbH (Cologne).
• Preferred materials are non-woven fabrics obtained by spunbonding or spunlacing, from extrusion of thermoplastic filaments which are then stretched in an air current and deposited on a mobile support to form a non- woven fabric.
• the filaments thus obtained are then bonded, preferably by jets of water at high pressure (jetbonding).
• the preferential embodiment uses filaments from coextrusion of different materials (e.g. polyester and polyamide) positioned side by side to form different portions of one single filament; when they undergo the above-mentioned jetbonding process, the filaments split to give a plurality of sub-filaments which are the same even with different gram weights and material finish.
• the filaments of polyester are of approximately triangular section with two sides that measure from 6.5 to 7.5 ⁇ m and one side of approximately 3 ⁇ m (-0.20dTex).
• the filaments of polyamide are also triangular with two sides which measure from 6.5 to 7.5 ⁇ m and one side of 2 ⁇ m ( ⁇ 0.10dTex).
• Evolon ® An example of a product produced in this way is marketed by Freudenberg under the name Evolon ®. Said material is furthermore preferably resistant to washing up to 95 0 C.
• the preferential material for the textile product to be used in the invention is a monofilament microfibre non-woven fabric preferably with gram weight between 100 and 130 g/m 2 obtained by coextrusion of PES/PA 70/30 in wedge - shaped portions, sold under the name EVO 100 and EVO 130 by Freudenberg.
• EVO 100 and EVO 130 by Freudenberg.
• Underlying the present invention is the finding that, surprisingly, containers made of fabrics with the above permeability values are able to let water and detergent through so as to provide optimal washing of the garments contained. Also surprising was the finding that the textile materials which meet said requirements of permeability to solids are able to prevent cross colouring from washing of coloured and non-coloured garments.
• Fig. 1 shows a possible embodiment of the container of the invention.
• the fabric was folded and sewn to form a bag 1 provided with a zip-fastener 2 on one side.
• the fabric constitutes substantially 100% of the material of the container, with the exception of the zip-fastener which necessarily has a part made of cotton.
• the zip-fastener which necessarily has a part made of cotton.
• a flap 3 that can be folded onto the zip 2 and sewn on the edges along the length of the flap so as to form a barrier to passage of the dye.
• the dimensions are not critical for achievement of the object of the invention; in fact, the dimensions are calculated according to the quantity of garments to be washed or the dimensions of the individual garment.
• Containers can be produced sufficient for washing eiderdowns or quilted jackets and containers for machine-washing of single ties with, for example, dimensions of 13 cm by 23 cm, zip and zip protection.
• the embodiment shown in fig. 1 is of the type that has on at least part of its outer surface, and therefore visibly, one or more pieces of information, decorations and similar.
• the container has a number of pieces of information 6 for example relative to garment washing conditions and, in another area of the container 1 , a decoration-information 5 functioning as an advertisement.
• coloured garments and white or light-coloured garments are washed together after placing at least the coloured garments in a container according to the invention.
• the coloured garments are placed in a container and the white or light- coloured garments are placed in another container.
• the containers then undergo the required washing cycle.
• the non-coloured garment consisting of a white handkerchief, was placed in an analogous container made of the same material. A wash was performed at 50 0 C for 45 minutes with spinning at 900 rpm. The garments washed came out as follows: the white garment was unchanged, the red garment was still red, one of the sides of the container was coloured red. Example 2 Washing of a woollen garment.
• a 100% cashmere pullover was placed in a 60 x 60 cm container made of microfibre 0.1-0.2 dtex.
• the pullover was washed according to the cycle specified on the label, washing at 40 0 C and spinning at 900 rpm.
• the garment removed, after drying, was softer and without the matted knots of wool fibres that form on garments with use. Said matted fibres had in fact been removed by the microfibres of the container and were deposited inside the latter.
• a further subject of the invention is therefore a device for washing garments characterised in that it comprises a container made of microfibre and/or microfilament non-woven fabric.
• microfibre non-woven fabric indicates non-woven fabrics in which the fibre or filament count is below 1.3 dtex and preferably below 1.0 dtex, generally in the order of 0.1-0.5 dtex and 0.1-0.3 dtex.
• the gram weight is between 50 and 150 g/m 2 , preferably between 60 and 130 g/m 2 .
• a further advantage of the containers is that it reduces the quantity of water present in the garment at the end of the cycle with respect to the same garment washed without using the washing container according to the invention. It has been found that the quantity of water present is on average 20-30% lower in the garment washed in the container than in a garment washed free with the same wash. This translates into a saving in drying times and costs, especially if the garment is dried in a dryer.
• the invention therefore concerns the use of containers in microfibre non-woven fabric with gram weight between 50 and 150 g/m 2 to reduce the quantity of water present in the garment after spinning.

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• 2008
  • 2008-12-23 EP EP08868151A patent/EP2240637A1/de not_active Withdrawn
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