Fabric (woven – knitted – or nonwoven textile or cloth – etc.) – Coated or impregnated woven – knit – or nonwoven fabric which... – Coating or impregnation provides a fragrance or releases an...
Reexamination Certificate
2000-07-14
2004-03-30
Cole, Elizabeth M. (Department: 1771)
Fabric (woven, knitted, or nonwoven textile or cloth, etc.)
Coated or impregnated woven, knit, or nonwoven fabric which...
Coating or impregnation provides a fragrance or releases an...
C442S184000, C442S329000, C008S115560, C512S001000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06713410
ABSTRACT:
This invention relates to the treatment of textiles containing spandex fibres.
At the present time, many garments are made from fabric which contains a mixture of fibres, a proportion of which are elastic, so that the fabric has the ability to stretch and to recover from stretch. Spandex fibres are commonly used for this purpose. The term “Spandex” has been adopted as a generic term by the United States Federal Trade Commission to denote a manufactured fibre in which the fibre-forming substance is a long chain synthetic polymer composed of at least 85% of a segmented polyurethane. A discussion of such fibres can be found in “History of Spandex Elastomeric Fibres” by A. J. Ultee, which is a chapter starting at page 278 in Man-Made Fibres: Their Origin and Development, edited by R. V. Seymour and R. S. Porter, Elsevier 1993. Spandex fibres are also referred to as “elastane” or “elasthane” fibres.
Another discussion of such fibres is found under the heading “Segmented Polyurethanes” at page 613 of Handbook of Textile Fibres by J. Gordon Cook, 5th Ed. Merrow Publishing Company 1984. Further description of elastanes and their applications can be found in “Synthesefasern: Grundlagen, Technologie, Verarbeitung und Anwendung”, B von Falkei (editor), Verlag Chemie (1981). Commercially available elastanes are well known, in particular as sold under the name LYCRA®, a registered trade mark of DuPont de Nemours and Company. Patents relating to such fibres include U.S. Pat. No. 5,000,899, U.S. Pat. No. 5,288,779 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,362,432.
The deposition of perfume onto garments and other fabrics during laundering has been established for many years. Perfume is incorporated into laundry products such as detergent compositions for fabric washing and rinse conditioners for softening the fabrics.
Although the perfume serves to cover the base odour of such a product and to give the unused product an attractive fragrance, it also deposits on the fabric.
Certain perfumes have the ability to provide deodorant action against body odour, either when directly applied to human skin, or when included in a laundry product. Such perfumes are described in EP-B-3172, U.S. Pat. No. 4,304,679, U.S. Pat. No. 4,278,658, U.S. Pat. No. 4,134,838, U.S. Pat. No. 4,268,341 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,289,641, U.S. Pat. No. 5,482,635 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,554,588.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
We have now found that a number of fragrance materials used in perfumery are able to deposit and then be retained better on spandex fibres than on a number of other textile fibres.
Delivery of fragrance materials to fabric can take place during washing, as is well known. The present invention appreciates that the application of perfume to textiles containing spandex fibres can be utilised in the treatment of textiles which are newly made—that is to say textile goods which have never been worn as garments by a consumer.
Therefore in one aspect the present invention provides a method of treating textile which is yarn or fabric containing spandex fibres, comprising contacting the textile with a perfume so that the perfume is deposited on the fabric. Preferably, the fabric is unworn. It may have been made up into a garment.
In a related second aspect, the invention provides textile which is yarn or fabric containing spandex fibres, having perfume deposited on the textile. Preferably, the fabric is unworn. It may have been made up into a garment.
We have observed that a range of fragrance materials deposited on such textiles will still be perceptible on the fabric, even after several washes of the fabric using laundry products with a different perfume, or none.
The invention also provides use of a perfume composition in the treatment of textile which is yarn or fabric containing spandex and other fibres, to deposit fragrance materials at a greater concentration on the spandex fibres than on the other fibres. Preferably, the fabric is unworn.
In significant forms of this invention, the perfume used to treat the textile (or the combination of fragrance materials deposited thereon) is a deodorant perfume. Then when the textile is made into a garment, that garment will have an in-built deodorant property.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
The various aspects of this invention, preferred forms and materials useful therein will now be discussed in greater detail.
Textiles
The textiles to which this invention relates include spandex fibres. As mentioned earlier, this term denotes a manufactured fibre in which the fibre forming substance is a long chain synthetic polymer compound composed of at least 85% of a segmented polyurethane.
Thus the polymer which is spun into spandex fibres is a copolymer incorporating urethane linkages. Generally the polymer contains so-called soft (i.e. lower melting) segments which may be polyalkylene ethers or polyesters and so-called hard (i.e. higher melting) segments which are portions derived from the reaction of an isocyanate and a chain extender which is typically a diamine.
The soft segments may be poly(tetramethylene)ethers, possibly containing substituted tetramethylene glycol residues as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,000,899. Organic diisocyanates which may be used include conventional diisocyanates, such as diphenylmethane-4,4′-diisocyanate, also known as methylene-bis(4-phenylisocyanate) or “MDI”, 2,4-tolylene diisocyanate, methylene-bis(4-cyclohexylisocyanate), isophorone diisocyanate, tetramethylene-p-xylylene diisocyanate, and the like. MDI is preferred.
Chain extenders used in producing the hard segment of the fibres preferably include one or more of ethylenediamine (EDA), 1,3-propylenediamine, 1,4-cyclohexanediamine, hydrogenated m-phenylenediamine (HPMD), 2-methylpentamethylene diamine (MPMD) and 1,2-propylene diamine. More preferably, the chain extender is one or more of ethylenediamine, 1,3-propylenediamine, and 1,4-cyclohexanediamine, optionally mixed with HPMD, MPMD and/or 1,2-propylenediamine.
Spandex fibres with poly(tetramethylene) ethers as the soft segments are marketed by DuPont de Nemours International S.A. under the registered trade mark LYCRA® of DuPont de Nemours and Company.
Spandex fibres are generally mixed with other fibres such as cotton, polyamide, wool, polyester and acrylics and made into yarn which is then made into fabric. The content of spandex fibres is usually in a range from 0.5% by weight of the yarn or fabric up to 50%, more usually from 1 to 30% by weight of the yarn or fabric.
A wide range of garments may contain spandex fibres in the fabric, including active sports wear, intimate apparel, hosiery and a variety of ready to wear casual clothing.
The textiles which are treated with a perfume composition prior to wearing may be yarn which is later made into fabric, or may be fabric in the form of a web or lengths from a web which have not yet been made into garments, or may possibly be garments.
Preferably the treatment with a perfume composition is carried out while treating with other material in a conventional process step, especially a wet stage in which the yarn or fabric is treated with a finishing agent to improve its hand or appearance.
However, the perfume composition may be included directly into the spandex fibre. A fabric may be made using the spandex fibre alone. Alternatively, the spandex fibre may be covered or mixed with other fibres and made into a yarn which is then made into fabric.
The materials which may be applied to fabric in a conventional finishing treatment include resins to confer stiffness, fabric stability or permanent press, fabric softeners, flame retardants, fabric brighteners, anti-snag agents, materials to confer soil or stain resistance and water repellants.
Techniques which are conventionally used to apply such materials are padding and exhaustion, both well known in the technology of textile manufacture.
Treatment with a perfume composition in accordance with this invention can be carried out by including the perfume composition in the liquor used in a process as above.
The amount of perfume deposited on the fabric in a treatment step carried out
Clements Christopher Francis
John Olivier William
MacMaster Angus Peter
Palmen Raymond
Perring Keith Douglas
Cole Elizabeth M.
E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co.
Frank George A.
Pierce Jeremy
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