Synthetic resins or natural rubbers -- part of the class 520 ser – Synthetic resins – Cellular products or processes of preparing a cellular...
Reexamination Certificate
2000-11-27
2002-04-09
Foelak, Morton (Department: 1711)
Synthetic resins or natural rubbers -- part of the class 520 ser
Synthetic resins
Cellular products or processes of preparing a cellular...
C047S001500, C047S002000, C521S078000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06369122
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to agricultural foam marker compositions and concentrates thereof and their use in agriculture to generate foam markers to delineate a line on soil or a field or on crops for marking the edges of areas already agriculturally processed or treated.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
In modern agriculture, large areas are to be treated at a time, such as by cultivating the soil, seeding the soil or applying fertilizer, herbicides, insecticides, pesticides and the like. In such agricultural operations farm sprayers, chemical application, seeders, cultivators and other machinery is drawn or propelled over large ground areas. It is essential for a variety of reasons, including economy of time and materials, ecology, efficiency and maximization of treatment or coverage, that the areas being treated be clearly marked or delineated to distinguished the treated area from untreated or not yet treated areas.
In general, an area of agricultural ground, soil or crops is treated by the use of tractors, cultivators, seeders, sprayers, chemical applicators and other farming equipment that is drawn or propelled over the ground. In operating the equipment, it is generally essential that the area treated by operation of the equipment be as contiguous as practical to the area already being treated so as to avoid gaps in treatment or overlap in treatment. If an area is left untreated, crop loss can result. On the other hand, overlapping of areas of treatment can result in wasteful use of the material being used to treat the area as well as harmful excess deposit of such materials into areas of overlap. To avoid both untreated areas and areas being subjected to overlapping treatment it has become necessary to ensure an adequate marking system for delimiting treated from untreated areas.
For this purpose, there have been various proposals for obtaining such delineating or marking of areas treated. Among these proposals are the use of various mechanical marking devices and various electronic sensing devices. Among the most numerous proposals and most generally used is the use of sprayed dyes or foams for marking the edges of treated areas.
Mechanical systems involve undesirable use of manpower, and in many instances result in crop damage, and are generally economically undesirable and not a particularly effective means of marking the areas of treatment. The use of marking dyes is generally not ecologically desirable nor does it generally provide sufficient visible marking.
The use of marking foams generally involves the deposit of a foam marker at the edge of the treated areas to enable the operator of the treating equipment to adjust the operation of the treating equipment to obtain contiguous but not overlapping areas of treatment. In operation, a foam marker composition is employed for this purpose. Foam is generated from a tank of a foam marker composition by use of pressurized gas, generally air, and the foam is deposited at the edge of a treated area by being dropped along that edge from the end of a sprayer boom attached to a tractor or other treating equipment. In this manner, the operator of the tractor or equipment can visually determine the edge of a previously treated area by observing the deposited foam and the operator can then adjust the direction and position of the treatment equipment so that it operates in a contiguous but not overlapping manner.
A wide variety of agricultural foam marker compositions have been marketed for this purpose. However, the agricultural foam marker composition commercially available suffer from various drawbacks. For example, such compositions may not be suitable for use with both soft water (about 50 ppm CaCO
3
) and hard water (about 1100 or more ppm CaCO
3
). Similarly, such compositions may not produce suitable foam markers under a variety of environmental conditions, such as hot or cold, humid or dry and calm or windy conditions. Additionally, such compositions may not produce foam markers that are stable and that last long enough, i.e. for at least about 45 minutes at 25° C. when produced using hard water, and for at least about 1 hour at 25° C. when produced using soft water. Furthermore, many such compositions do not exhibit a low enough pour point temperature to be adequately stored and used at low temperatures, i.e., below about 10° C., preferably below about 5° C.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In accordance with this invention, aqueous agricultural foam marker formulations are provided that can produce acceptable foams in both hard and soft water, that are long lasting, have good wind resistance, and have a pour point of about 10° C. or lower, preferably about 5° C. or lower, and thereby have adequate freeze stability concurrently with possessing good stability and wind resistance. Another aspect of this invention providing foamable aqueous agricultural foam marker concentrate compositions for dilution with water at a ratio of about 1:75 to about 1:100 or more to provide the aforementioned foam marker formulations. A further aspect of this invention is to provide an improved method of depositing a foam marker at the edge of an agriculturally treated area to distinguish or delimit treated area from untreated area by depositing foam markers produced from the aforementioned foam marker formulations of this invention.
The improved ready-to-use aqueous foam marker formulations of this invention comprise from about 0.10 to about 0.40 wt % of at least one anionic surfactant selected from salts of an &agr;-olefin sulfonate having from about 12 to about 16 carbon atoms, salts of an alkyl or alkyl-ether sulfate having from about 8 to about 16 carbon atoms, salts of a long chain C
12
-C
16
alkylbenzene sulfonate, and salts of sulfosuccinates; from about 10 to about 30 wt %, based on the total amount of anionic surfactant component in the formulation, of a linear C
14
or C
16
alkanol or a mixture of C
14
to C
16
linear alkanols in which the C
14
linear alkanol preferably comprises at least 20 wt % of the mixture of the alkanols; from about 0.05 to about 0.40 wt % of one or more solvents selected from 2 butoxyethanol, diethylene glycol, dipropylene glycol, ethanol, propanol, isopropanol and butanol; and water. The formulation may optionally contain from about 0.03 to about 0.20 wt % of a foam stabilizing polymer selected from a polyacrylic acid and salt thereof having a molecular weight of from about 10,000 to about 500,000, an ethylene oxide/propylene oxide block copolymer having a molecular weight up to about 30,000, a polyethylene glycol having a molecular weight of 400 or greater, and a biopolymer having a molecular weight of about 100,000 or greater. The weight percents, unless specified otherwise, are based on the total weight of the ready-to-use formulation and the weight percents of the anionic surfactant is on a dry weight basis of the surfactant.
Concentrate compositions for producing the improved ready-to-use aqueous foam marker formulations of this invention comprise from about 10 to about 40 wt % of at least one anionic surfactant selected from salts of an &agr;-olefin sulfonate having from about 12 to about 16 carbon atoms, salts of an alkyl or alkyl-ether sulfate having from about 8 to about 16 carbon atoms, salts of long chain C
12
-C
16
alkylbenzene sulfonates, and salts of sulfosuccinates; from about 10 to about 30 wt %, based on the total amount of anionic surfactant component in the formulation, of a linear C
14
or C
16
alkanol or a mixture of C
14
to C
16
linear alkanols in which the C
14
linear alkanol preferably comprises at least 20 wt % of the mixture of the alkanols; from about 5 to about 40 wt % of one or more solvents selected from 2 butoxyethanol, diethylene glycol, dipropylene glycol, ethanol, propanol, isopropanol and butanol; and water. The formulation may optionally contain from about 3 to about 20 wt % of a foam stabilizing polymer selected from a polyacrylic acid and salt thereof having a molecular weight of from about 10,000 to about 500,000, an ethylene oxide/propylene oxide b
Foelak Morton
Rauchfuss, Jr. George W.
Rhodia Inc.
Shedden John A.
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