GB2090740A - Talc compositions - Google Patents

Abstract

Talc compositions exhibiting improved skin moisture loss retardant characteristics and reduced airborne respirable particles comprising talc, petrolatum and perfume.

Description

SPECIFICATION Talc compositions Background of the invention The present invention relates to talc compositions. More particularly, the present invention relates to talc powder compositions with improved skin moisture loss retardant characteristics and reduced airborne respirable particles.

High grade talcs have for many years been used in the form of powder for application to the skin. The talc in its finely divided powdered form is well suited for this purpose. Finely divided talc has thus found wide application in the cosmetic industry and as a powder for treating tender skins, such as those of infants and children, to prevent chafing or other irritation as would occur from diapers or wet clothing.

Although many satisfactory talc compositions are available through commercial channels, numerous attempts to develop improved compositions have been ongoing. See, for example, United States Patent Nos. 3,102,8553,133,866; 3,684,197; 3,684,197; 3,801,709; and 4,185,086.

It has always been thought desirable in any composition to be applied to the skin that some barrier effect be sought to retard moisture vapor loss through the skin. Numerous compositions and additives have been suggested in the literature for this purpose and have met with varying degrees of success.

In recent years, there has also been some discussion and concern voiced with respect to products which are capable of yielding airborne respirable particles during their use. Although little definitive data has been generated as to the effect, if any, of airborne respirable particles in talc compositions, a reduction of such particles would still be a desirable characteristic. The talc compositions of the present invention have achieved both of these desirable characteristics without resulting in other undesirable characteristics.

A commercially available power product lists as its ingredients talc, magnesium carbonate, petrolatum, kaolin, fragrance, calcium silicate, and methicone, but does not exhibit either of the desirable properties discussed above.

Summary ofthe invention It is an object of this invention to provide improved talc compositions.

It is another object of this invention to provide talc compositions with improved skin moisture loss retardant characteristics.

It is a further object of this invention to provide talc compositions with reduced airborne respirable particles.

Other objects of this invention will be set forth in, or be apparent from, the following detailed description of the invention.

The foregoing objects and other features and advantages of the present invention are achieved by a composition comprising a major amount of talc and a minor amount of petrolatum, as well as a suitable amount of a desired perfume.

Detailed description of the invention The present invention relates to talc compositions consisting of talc, from about 0.25 to 10.00% petrolatum and from about 0.01 to 1.00% perfume.

The talc which is useful in the present invention is a cosmetic grade of talc which conforms to the Cosmetic Toiletry and Fragrance Association, Inc. specifications. Such talc is essentially a white, odorless, fine powder ground from a naturally occurring rock ore and it typically consists of about 90% hydrous magnesium silicate having a structural formula of Mg6(Si8020).(OH)4, with the remainder consisting of naturally associated minerals such as calcite, chlorite, dolomite, kaolin, and magnesite and containing no asbestos minerals. The talc is utilized in an amount of from about 89.00 to 99.74% by weight of the total composition.

The petrolatum which is useful in the present invention is a USP grade of petrolatum which conforms to CTFA specifications. Such petrolatum, otherwise known as mineral fat, white petrolatum, petroleum jelly or mineral jelly, is a colorless or amber colored translucent semi-solid amorphous mass whose consistency varies with temperature. The material has a specific gravity ranging from 0.815-0.880 at 600C.

The petrolatum is utilized in from about 0.25 to 10.00% by weight of the total composition, preferably from about 0.25 to 5.00% by weight of the total composition and most preferred from about 0.25 to 2.00% by weight of the total composition. If less than about 0.25% by weight of the total composition of petrolatum is utilized, the positive effects of such use will not be realized primarily because of the commercial impracticality of uniformly distributing such small amounts of petrolatum throughout the talc substrate.If greaterthan about 10% petrolatum by weight of the total composition is utilized, processing difficulties may occur when between about 5 to 10% petrolatum by weight of the total composition is utilized, some dispersing problems may occur under normal sifting conditions and alternative means such as puffs, stick application or other dispensing means may have to be utilized. The above ranges are not appropriate based on the use of a cosmetic grade of talc ground to a 200 mesh dimension according to the United States Standard Sieve Series. Talcs ground finer than 200 mesh, e.g., 325 mesh or 400 mesh, may require a higher lower level of petrolatum whereas talcs ground coarser, e.g., 100 mesh or 80 mesh, may require a lower upper level of petrolatum.

The perfumes which are useful in the present invention are any commercial perfumes which result in the fragrance desired by the formulator of the talc compositions. Commercial perfumes are mixtures of many components and these components all contribute to the particular fragrance which is characteristic of the mixture. For obtaining the desired fragrance, the ratio of components might be changed, some components may be added and some omitted.

Examples of typical perfume components which can be formulated to make up a particular pleasant aroma when used in a body powder product include: lemon oil, musk ketone, ionone, diphenyl oxide, cedarwood-terpeneless, geranyl acetate; ylang ylang oil; cedryl acetate, isoeugenol; cinnamic alcohol, aurantheol, methyl anthranilate; vanillin, oil bergamot, eugenol; oil of cananga; citral; tetrahydro linalool; oil patchouly, methyl isoeugenol; hexylcinnamic aldehyde; resil oil banum, resin balsam fir; musk aurbrette, resin balsam Peru; oil sandalwood, geraniol; terpenyl acetate, benzyl isoeugenol, oil copaiba; oil nutmeg, rhodinol; diphenyl methane; hydroxycitronellal; methyl benzoate; benzyl propionate; oil palmarose; oil orange, oil geranium; methyl gamma ionone; oil of lavender.

The perfume is utilized in an amount of from about 0.01 to 1.0% by weight of the total composition, preferably from about 0.1 to 0.3% by weight of the total composition. If greater than about 1.0% by weight of perfume is utilized, the fragrance will usually be too strong initiaily and may deteriorate quickly; and if less than 0.01% by weight of perfume is utilized, the fragrance will not be discernible to the user of the product.

The compositions of the present invention can be prepared by well-known mixing or blending procedures.

For example, a portion of the talc is mixed and thoroughly blended with the total amount of petrolatum to form a premix and the perfume is then mixed therein. The balance of talc is thereafter added to form the desired composition. The resulting talc compositions exhibit skin moisture loss retardant characteristics and reduced airborne respirable particle characteristics.

Specific embodiments of the talc compositions prepared in accordance with the present invention are iliustrated by the following representative examples. It will be understood, however, that the invention is not confined to the specific limitations set forth in the individual examples, but rather to the scope of the appended claims.

Example I A tale composition is prepared as follows: a premix is prepared by adding slowly 10 parts by weight of molten petrolatum to 90 parts of tale while mixing at high speed in a Waring blender. The mixing is continued for a period of two minutes after the addition is finished to insure completeness. 8.8 parts by weight of fragrance are then added to the premix with stirring. Talc is then added in an amount to bring the total weight to 4000 parts and the resulting mixture is blended for a period of five minutes in a V-blender equipped with a high speed intensifier bar to form the desired product.

The resulting talc composition has the following formulation: % wlw Talc 99.53 Petrolatum 0.25 Fragrance 0.22 100.00 Example II In order to demonstrate that talc compositions prepared in accordance with the present invention exhibit improved skin moisture loss retardant characteristics, the following experiment is performed.

A talc composition is prepared in accordance with the procedure of Example I and is designated Composition A. Four additional talc compositions, i.e., Compositions B, C, D and E, are prepared by the same procedure except containing 0.50%, 1.00%, 2.00% and 5.00% petrolatum respectively, and a sixth talc composition, i.e., Composition F, is prepared by the same procedure except that no petrolatum is utilized.

These talc compositions are then tested in accordance with the following procedure. Neonatal rat stratum corneum is mounted on a standard commercially available diffusion ceil for membrane diffusion test purposes. The skin is exposed to a standard soap solution and washed under circumstances simulating actual bathing conditions for infants. One half gram of distilled water is administered to the cell under the skin layer and 1/2 gram of a test composition is rubbed on the top surface of the skin. The excess, not adhered, is tapped off. Initial weights are recorded and the weights are rerun at 24,48, and 72 hours during which the average loss of water in milligrams per square centimeter of skin per hour are calculated. The entire test system is confined under 0% relative humidity. The procedure determines the rate of loss of moisture vapor up through and out the skin top surface.

The results of the test are shown in Table I below.

TABLE I Average % reduction of moisture Rate Loss Composition % Petrolatum through skin A 0.25 24 B 0.50 20 C 1.00 17 D 2.00 24 E 5.00 34 F O 1 These results clearly demonstrate that the compositions of the present invention containing petrolatum significantly reduce the moisture rate loss through the skin.

Example III In order to demonstrate that talc compositions prepared in accordance with the present invention exhibit improved reduced "airborne respirable particle" characteristics, the following experiment is carried out. A 9 oz. sprinkle-top container of powder having either 1/16" diameter sprinkle holes or 1/8" diameter sprinkle holes approximately 1/2 full is placed in a mechanical clamping device and shaken vertically at a fixed rate to deliver about 1.5 grams of powder. The shaker is located within a closed test chamber 50 cm. x 45 cm. x 56 cm. high so that any airborne dust is contained within the chamber and is rapidly dispersed and uniformized by means of a small circlating fan.The airbore dust is sampled near the center of said chamber with a 10 mm. nylon cyclone located 25cm. from and 4 cm. below the shaker and operating at a flow rate of 1.71/mien.

The cyclone separates out the respirable-sized particles and delivers them to a Thermo Systems, Inc. Model No. 321 0A quartz crystal mass monitor for weighing and determination of the average concentration of airborne respirable particles, as mg/M3. The average airborne respirable particle concentration for the first two minutes after shaking is measured and recorded.

When talc compositions A, B, C, D, E, and F, as prepared in Example II, are compounded on the same day and aged for five days and are subjected to the above test, results are obtained as set forth in the Table II below.

TABLE II Airborne respirable concentration in mg/M3 per gram of Composition % Petrolatum composition shaken 1/16" hole 1/8" hole A 0.25 0.72 0.21 B 0.50 0.31 0.09 C 1.00 0.09 0.08 D 2.00 0.12 0.09 E 5.00 0.05 0.05 F 0 3.23 1.56 These results clearly demonstrate that the compositions of the present invention significantly reduce the airborne respirable particles.

Various other features and embodiments of the present invention not specifically enumerated will be obvious to those skilled in the art, all of which may be achieved without departing from the scope of the invention as defined by the following claims.

Claims (8)

1. A talc composition consisting essentially of talc, petrolatum, and perfume.

2. The composition of Claim 1 containing from about 0.01 to 1.00% by weight of the composition of perfume, from about 0.25 to 10.00% by weight of the composition of petrolatum and the balance talc.

3. The composition of Claim 2 wherein the petrolatum is present from about 0.25 to 5.00% by weight of the composition.

4. The composition of Claim 2 wherein the petrolatum is present from about 0.25 to 2.00% by weight of the composition.

5. The composition of Claim 2,3 or 4 wherein the perfume is present from about 0.10 to 0.30% by weight of the composition.

6. A composition as claimed in claim 1, containing, by weight of the composition, 0.10 to 0.30% of perfume, 0.20 to 2.00 % of petrolatum, and 97.70 to 99.70 % of talc.

7. A composition as claimed in claim 6, substantially as described in the foregoing Example I.

8. A composition as claimed in any preceding claim, prepared by a procedure including the steps of preparing a premix by blending petrolatum and talc, mixing the resulting premix with perfume, and blending the resulting mixture with additional talc.