Cleaning compositions for solid surfaces – auxiliary compositions – Cleaning compositions or processes of preparing – Specific organic component
Reexamination Certificate
2001-01-12
2002-08-13
Boyer, Charles (Department: 1751)
Cleaning compositions for solid surfaces, auxiliary compositions
Cleaning compositions or processes of preparing
Specific organic component
C510S123000, C510S308000, C510S329000, C510S330000, C510S463000, C428S096000, C428S208000, C428S208000, C428S208000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06432910
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to agents for treating the surface of fiber products which contact the skin.
The present invention also relates to fiber treating agents which permanently provide physiological skin protecting effects to prevent rough, dry and itchy skin and to improve immunity or the like, and methods for treating fibers using said fiber treating agents.
2. Description of the Related Art
Currently, the incidence of atopic dermatitis is increasing and has become a social problem. Atopic dermatitis is considered to be caused by changes in the housing environment associated with the advanced standard of living, which results in an abnormality in skin barrier function and a decrease in heat-retaining ability of the horny layer.
Deterioration in immunity, which causes atopic dermatitis, is known to be largely affected by eczema or itching caused by irritation of the skin caused by clothes such as underwear. Accordingly, it would be very advantageous if clothes which directly contact the skin can be treated so as to acquire improved skin barrier function and moisture retaining function of the horny layer, and physiological skin protecting effects to improve skin immunity and to suppress skin dryness, roughness and itching. However, no fiber treating agent which provides such effects has been known until now.
Conventionally, collagen is known to be effective for retaining moisture in the skin horny layer. There is a method in which natural collagen particles are dispersed on a urethane resin base to form a membrane to form a material having highly transparent and highly moisture-absorbing/exhaling properties, providing no sticky sweating feeling when worn (Japanese Patent Laid Open, No. H04-82974) and an agent to treat the surface of covering non-woven fabrics for moisture-retaining sanitary products, which is composed of a collagen hydrolysate and a surfactant (Japanese Patent Laid Open, No. S62-90375). However, collagen was found to be inappropriate for use as a fiber treating agent by itself because of its sticky property which resulted in an unsatisfactory feel when used for treating underwear. On the other hand, chitin and chitin derivatives, which are present amply and ubiquitously in nature as a complex with proteins in invertebrate animals, bacteria, fungi or the like, are known to be used as an agent for treating fibers to provide an antimicrobial effect without causing skin damage and to improve water absorbing property and water dispersing property, as well as water proofing property and moisture permeating property (Japanese Patent Laid Open, No. H03-76871). However, the chitin compounds are simply dispersed on the fibers, and as such are dissolved or released from the resulting fiber products upon washing, which results in poor durability.
Furthermore, a technique for graft polymerization of collagen having an excellent absorbing/exhaling property is known to improve a durable antimicrobial property of underwear (Japanese Patent Laid Open, No. H07-300770); however, the technique can be used only for polyester fibers, which impedes its broad applicability. Further, an attempt was made to prepare a fiber treating agent, in which collagen was held with chitosan carboxylate to dissolve the stickiness of collagen and a synthetic resin binder was admixed. However, the use of a binder made it difficult to attain a soft feel and caused considerable skin irritation. Moreover, because of the concealing effect of the binder, it became difficult for the collagen component itself to directly act on the skin and thus physiological protecting effects, the primary object, could not be satisfactorily attained.
Further, the use of fiber treating agents primarily consisting of silk proteins is known. For example, the surface of fibers is treated with silk granules (Japanese Patent Laid Open, No. H08-49161), the hydrophilicity of fibers is improved by treating with sericin (Japanese Patent Laid Open, No. H09-322911), and sericin is applied on the surface of fibers to produce materials for fiber products which have direct contact with skin, such as diapers, eye bandages, facial packs, and wet napkins (Japanese Patent Laid Open, No. H10-1872); however, none of them are satisfactory in terms of comfort to the skin and moisture retention of the horny layer. A technique to fix a mixture of liquid or powder of a protein component extracted from cocoon hydrolysate and a synthetic resin binder onto fibers is also known. However, because of the concealing effect of the binder, it became difficult for the sericin component to act on the skin and thus expected physiological protecting effects could not be satisfactorily attained; skin stimulation became disadvantageously difficult by the use of the binder and the durability of the resulting underwear and towels were not satisfactory when washed repeatedly.
On the other hand, treatments of fibers with a treatment solution containing quaternary ammonium salts are also known, which include a treatment to attain soft feel (Japanese Patent Laid Open, No. H07-82668), a treatment to improve water repelling and oil repelling properties (Japanese Patent Laid Open, No. H07-145119), a treatment to improve an antimicrobial property, deodorizing property, and water absorbing workability (Japanese Patent Laid Open, No. H08-311769), a treatment to prevent static electricity (Japanese Patent Laid Open, No. H09-173961; Japanese Patent Laid Open, No. H10-37071), and a treatment to improve gloss and smoothness (Japanese Patent Laid Open H10-237771). However, none of these provides physiological protecting effects.
Furthermore, a combined use of collagen and chitosan quaternary ammonium salts is also known. For example, collagen and/or an antimicrobial agent are graft-polymerized on the surface of polyester fibers to obtain modified polyester fibers having an excellent antimicrobial property, moisture absorbing/exhaling property and water absorbing property (Japanese Patent Laid Open H7-300770). However, this technique is for producing fiber products having the abovementioned properties on a large scale and not for post processing of fibers. Moreover, the resulting products were not satisfactory in terms of wear feeling and physiological protecting effects as found in fibers obtained according to the present invention.
Conventionally, 1,3-butyleneglycol, sorbitol, hyaluronic acid, CPCM chitosan, or the like are generally used as skin moisture-retaining agents. However, recent studies revealed that natural moisturizing factor (NMF) components have greater effects on the moisture retention of the horny layer and the restoration of the skin barrier function than the abovementioned conventional moisture-retaining compounds.
These natural moisturizing factor components are more effective in preventing eczema, rough and dry skin and itching and improving immunity than conventionally used moisture-retaining agents, and are considered to be excellent components for the restoration of the skin barrier function and the moisture-retention of the horny layer. Many attempts are now under consideration to compound the natural moisturizing factor components into skin medicines for external application.
Major natural moisturizing factor components referred to herein and their percentages are shown in Table 1.
Table 1 Percentages of natural moisturizing factor components (% by weight)
TABLE 1
Percentages of natural moisturizing factor components (% by weight)
Amino acids
40.0%
Pyrrolidonecarboxylic acid
12.0
Lactates
12.0
Glucosamine
1.5
Na, Ca, Mg, K, PO
4
18.5
Peptides and the like
8.5
Urea
7.0
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An objective of the present invention is to restore the skin barrier function and to improve the moisture-retaining function of the horny layer by fixing large percentages of the abovementioned natural moisturizing factor components, but not moisture-retaining agents which are conventionally used for cosmetics or the like, onto fibers.
The present invention can provide underwear having a gentle and soft
Gunze Co., Ltd.
Knobbe, Martens Olson, and Bear, LLP.
LandOfFree
Fiber treating agents and methods of treating fibers does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Fiber treating agents and methods of treating fibers, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Fiber treating agents and methods of treating fibers will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2934462