Bleaching and dyeing; fluid treatment and chemical modification – Fluid treatment – Manipulation of liquid
Reexamination Certificate
1998-04-01
2001-10-30
Stinson, Frankie L. (Department: 1746)
Bleaching and dyeing; fluid treatment and chemical modification
Fluid treatment
Manipulation of liquid
C008S159000, C068S01700R
Reexamination Certificate
active
06308356
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND—FIELD OF INVENTION
This invention relates to cleaning, to materials used in cleaning, and particularly to the employment of electric energy to do the work of cleaning by a method and device which operates to apply electrical energy directly to washing fluid at a site of cleaning, thus affecting the physical properties or characteristics of a cleaning substance, resulting in a reduced dependence on traditional chemical forms of energy to do the work of cleaning, and a reduced discharge of chemical waste, resulting in reduction of environmental pollution due to chemical waste discharge to a greater extent than heretofore possible.
BACKGROUND—DESCRIPTION OF PRIOR ART
Ideally, there should be no detectable difference in water before and after it is used for cleaning (other than the presence of the soil transferred from the laundry to the water). All forms of energy used to do the work of cleaning should have no lasting effect on the water used and should not be detected in the effluent. In the conventional chemical energy dominated laundry processes of the prior art, chemical energy is the only one of the three form of energy that violates this criteria.
The thermal energy of hot water has a temporary effect occurring in the water which is very effective in the cleaning process. There is no detectable difference in water that has been heated to aid in the cleaning process, once the cleaning is done and the water again cooled. Environmentally, this is the ideal situation.
The kinetic energy present in agitated water during the laundering process is not detectable once the cleaning is done and the water allowed to come to rest. Water that has induced turbulence during the cleaning process is no different after as compared to before it is used for cleaning.
The only source of energy used in the conventional cleaning process that causes a detectable difference is the energy of chemicals added to the water. Chemical energy from the addition of chemical substance to the water remains in the water after the cleaning process, and is the source of pollution caused by the cleaning process.
Thus is the long recognized and unfilled need to reduce the amount of polluting detergent chemicals being discharged into the environment.
The cleaning process of the prior art as used in the home laundry is a major contributor to pollution of the environment due to the discarding of spent chemicals into the environment.
Much of the resources used for producing laundry cleaning chemicals is non renewable.
It has not been practical to recycle spent laundry detergent chemicals from home laundry use.
Allergic reactions are caused by chemical residue in the fabric of clothes.
The health and growth of plants and animals are affected by chemical waste from home laundering.
The purity of drinking water is decreased by chemical waste from home laundering.
Water treatment requirements of public waste water is increased by chemical waste from home laundering.
Traditionally the cleaning process involved three different forms of energy used to dislodge soil from the items that were cleaned. Those forms of energy were kinetic energy, thermal energy, and chemical energy. Kinetic energy was from rubbing, scrubbing, or agitating. Thermal energy was from hot water. Chemical energy was principally from detergents. These forms of energy did the work of cleaning. To some extent, tradeoffs of one form of energy for another were employed. The amount of one form of energy was reduced at the cost of increasing the amount of another form. Chemical energy requirement was reduced by increasing the use of mechanical energy by rubbing, scrubbing, or agitating harder or longer. Thermal energy use was reduced by increasing the dependency on chemical energy.
Two significant developments increased the dependency on chemical energy in recent times.
First was the development of the automatic washing machine. The old fashioned ringer washer was used to clean several loads of wash before the water with it's laundry chemicals was discarded. The newer modern automatic washing machines, to eliminate the manual labor of removing the clothes from the wash tub to the rinse tub moved the washing and rinsing process to the same tub by changing the water rather than the clothes. Wash water was discarded after washing only one load of laundry. This resulted in a many fold increase in the number of loads of waste water, with it's polluting chemicals, being released into the environment each day.
The second development was the advent of the philosophy of saving energy by washing in cold water. In reality, the energy required to do the work of cleaning was not reduced. Only the source of energy was changed. More dependence on chemical energy was the change. More dependence on chemical energy resulted in a greater quantity of chemical pollutants released into the environment.
Ever since modern automatic washing machines reduced to one the number of loads of laundry to be cleaned by a single charge of cleaning solution, there has been a long recognized and unfilled need to reduce the amount of polluting detergent chemicals being discharged into the environment.
At the same time there has been a demand for improvements in the appearance, odor, and other characteristics of clean laundry.
Accordingly, in order to improve the cleaning efficiency, many clothes washing machine makers have utilized various methods including such methods as improving the agitators ability to scrub the laundry, extending the operating time of the motor during agitation, and improving the quality and/or increasing the quantity of detergent used in the washing machine. However, there were limits to improvements in the cleaning efficiency by the aforementioned methods for the following reasons:
(a) The methods utilizing increased mechanical force to improve the washing efficiency caused damage to the laundry or reduced efficiency of the washing machine.
(b) In methods utilizing increased amounts of detergent, a relatively large amount of the detergent did not react with the laundry and was discharged where it caused environmental pollution.
(c) Some detergent residue stuck to the laundry and thus the laundry was not effectively cleaned. Many people were allergic to detergent residue in the clothes they wore.
(d) Also, it was well known that if more than the recommended amount of detergent was used in the clothes washing machine, the washing efficiency of the washing machine was reduced.
Accordingly, inventors attempted to create several types of ionic water treatment devices to generate water containing non polluting chemical energy in the form of surface tension reducing ions for the purpose of reducing the amount of detergent required. In the absence of chemical detergent, all of these devices had the same shortcoming of the short life of oppositely polarized ions in the absence of energy to hold the mutually attracted ions apart.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,309,739 to Lee (1994) disclosed a device which claimed the generation of surface-tension-reducing hydroxyl ions for the purpose of reducing the amount of detergent required using tourmaline and ultrasonic energy. This device was integral to the washing machine and was required to be added on to the standard automatic washing machine at time of manufacture. The process was slow and at a point in the machine that was spatially removed from the point of the cleaning work. Any separation of the water into ions was quickly neutralized before reaching the locality where soil was being removed from the clothes, because the opposite nature of the charge on the ions caused them to attract each other and to be immediately neutralized. It has not become a commercial success because it was not significant in its effect.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,066,393 to Morey and Dooley (1978) disclosed a device which utilized a cation exchange resin device to remove calcium and/or magnesium ions from the water for the purpose of reducing the amount of detergent required. However, this device required a manual step in the washing process and it too was a
Frederick Brian
Frederick Max B.
LandOfFree
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