Cleaning compositions for solid surfaces – auxiliary compositions – Cleaning compositions or processes of preparing – Specific organic component
Reexamination Certificate
1998-04-09
2001-05-01
Ogden, Necholus (Department: 1751)
Cleaning compositions for solid surfaces, auxiliary compositions
Cleaning compositions or processes of preparing
Specific organic component
C510S181000, C510S427000, C510S434000, C510S490000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06225277
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to compositions for cleaning hard surfaces.
BACKGROUND
A variety of compositions for cleaning hard surfaces have been disclosed in the art. Much of the focus for such compositions has been on providing outstanding cleaning on a variety of surfaces and soils. For some specialised cleaners, such as glass cleaners, much effort has additionally been devoted to the formulation of so-called “streak-free” products, i.e. products which leave no or little visible residues after use.
The object of the present invention is to formulate hard surface cleaning compositions which clean and provide gloss to the cleaned surface. That is different from a “streak-free” composition, in that gloss additionally requires improved reflectance of light from the cleaned surface. A variety of products are commercially available for delivering gloss to surfaces, and they are disclosed for instance in U.S. Pat. No. 3,960,575 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,218,250. Both references recommend the use of various silicones for delivering gloss. Such compositions are not fully formulated hard surface cleaners, so that they do not clean efficiently, and indeed the formulation of silicone in hard surface cleaners has not shown any gloss benefits. See for instance EP 374 471 which discloses a hard surface cleaning composition with, amongst other essentials, a silicone for improved resistance to soil redeposition.
We have now found that superior gloss on surface can be obtained from a hard surface cleaning composition comprising a sulphonated homopolymer of (poly) styrene or a sulphonated copolymer of styrene with an ethylenically unsaturated comonomer, or mixtures of said polymers.
Suitable Polystyrenes sulphonates for use herein are disclosed for instance in “Multifunctional Sulphonated Polymers for Household Applications”, J. Guth et Al. Happi, December '94. The Guth article mentions that the key benefit of such polymers in the context of hard surface cleaners is anti soil redeposition, but does not discuss gloss.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In one embodiment, the present invention encompasses a hard surface cleaning composition comprising an anionic surfactant, a nonionic surfactant, a perfume and a sulphonated (poly) styrene or a sulphonated copolymer of styrene with an ethylenically unsaturated comonomer, or mixtures of said polymers.
In a second embodiment, the present invention encompasses a process of cleaning a hard surface by applying on said surface an effective amount of a composition defined herein.
In a third embodiment, the present invention encompasses the use of a sulphonated homopolymer of (poly) styrene or a sulphonated copolymer of styrene with an ethylenically unsaturated comonomer, or mixtures of said polymers, in a hard surface cleaning composition, for providing gloss to the surfaces being cleaned with said compositions.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
The compositions herein are hard surface cleaning compositions. The compositions can thus be formulated either as solids or liquids, but are used in a liquid form to ensure even delivery of the polymer, as a layer, onto the surface being cleaned. In the case where the compositions are formulated as solids, they will thus be mixed with an appropriate solvent, typically water, before use. In liquid form, the compositions are preferably but not necessarily formulated as aqueous compositions.
As a first essential ingredient, the compositions herein comprise a sulphonated homopolymer of (poly) styrene, or a sulphonated copolymer of styrene with an ethylenically unsaturated comonomer. The polymers are present in the compositions herein in preferred amounts of up to 20.0% by weight of the total composition, most preferably 0.1% to 5.0%. It is said polymers which, upon use, is deposited on the surface being cleaned, which provides the gloss benefit. Two different types of sulfonated polymers are useful herein.
The first type is a sulfonated homopolymer of styrene. The second type is a sulfonated interpolymer of styrene with an ethylenically unsaturated comonomer. The useful compounds herein include the partially or fully neutralized salts of either the sulfonated polystyrene or the sulfonated styrene interpolymers, i.e. the soluble salts of these polymers, wherein the sulfonic acid groups are partially or fully neutralized.
Suitable ethylenically unsaturated comonomer units which can be copolymerized with styrene to make the interpolymers suitable for sulfation include acrylic and methacrylic esters of aliphatic alcohols such as methyl, ethyl, butyl and 2-ethyl hexyl alcohols, acrylic acid, acrylonitrile, methacrylonitrile, dibutyl maleate, vinylidene chloride, N-vinyl pyrrolidone etc . . . Particularly preferred ethylenically unsaturated monomers for use herein include ethylene, propylene, styrene, vinyl naphthalene, acrylic acid and maleic anhydride.
Sulphonated styrene homopolymers suitable for use herein are commercially available under the trade name Versaflexe® from National Starch. Most suitable polymers and copolymers for use herein will be water soluble, and the molecular weight for these polymers is preferably between 5000 and 10,000,000, most preferably between 50,000 and 1,000,000.
As a second essential ingredient, the compositions herein comprise an anionic surfactant or mixtures thereof, preferably in amounts of up to 50% by weight of the total composition, most preferably from 0.1% to 10.0%.
Particularly preferred anionic surfactants for use herein include alkali metal (e.g., sodium or potassium) fatty acids, or soaps thereof, containing from about 8 to about 24, preferably from about 10 to about 20 carbon atoms. The fatty acids including those used in making the soaps can be obtained from natural sources such as, for instance, plant or animal-derived glycerides (e.g., palm oil, coconut oil, babassu oil, soybean oil, castor oil, tallow, whale oil, fish oil, tallow, grease, lard and mixtures thereof). The fatty acids can also be synthetically prepared (e.g., by oxidation of petroleum stocks or by the Fischer-Tropsch process).
Alkali metal soaps can be made by direct saponification of fats and oils or by the neutralization of the free fatty acids which are prepared in a separate manufacturing process. Particularly useful are the sodium and potassium salts of the mixtures of fatty acids derived from coconut oil and tallow, i.e., sodium and potassium tallow and coconut soaps.
The term “tallow” is used herein in connection with fatty acid mixtures which typically have an approximate carbon chain length distribution of 2.5% C
14
, 29% C
16
, 23% C
18
, 2% palmitoleic, 41.5% oleic and 3% linoleic (the first three fatty acids listed are saturated). Other mixtures with similar distribution, such as the fatty acids derived from various animal tallows and lard, are also included within the term tallow. The tallow can also be hardened (i.e., hydrogenated) to convert part or all of the unsaturated fatty acid moieties to saturated fatty acid moieties.
When the term “coconut” is used herein it refers to fatty acid mixtures which typically have an approximate carbon chain length distribution of about 8% C
8
, 7% C
10
, 48% C
12
, 17% C
14
, 9% C
16
, 2% C
18
, 7% oleic, and 2% linoleic (the first six fatty acids listed being saturated). Other sources having similar carbon chain length distribution such as palm kernel oil and babassu oil are included with the term coconut oil.
Other suitable anionic surfactants for use herein include water-soluble salts, particularly the alkali metal salts, of organic sulfuric reaction products having in the molecular structure an alkyl radical containing from about 8 to about 22 carbon atoms and a radical selected from the group consisting of sulfonic acid and sulfuric acid ester radicals. Important examples of these synthetic detergents are the sodium, ammonium or potassium alkyl sulfates, especially those obtained by sulfating the higher alcohols produced by reducing the glycerides of tallow or coconut oil; sodium or potassium alkyl benzene sulfonates, in which the alkyl g
Camp Jason J.
Ogden Necholus
The Procter & Gamble & Company
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