Cleaning compositions for solid surfaces – auxiliary compositions – Cleaning compositions or processes of preparing – For cleaning a specific substrate or removing a specific...
Patent
1997-03-12
1998-07-21
Lieberman, Paul
Cleaning compositions for solid surfaces, auxiliary compositions
Cleaning compositions or processes of preparing
For cleaning a specific substrate or removing a specific...
510439, 510441, 510446, 510451, 510475, C11D 1100, C11D 1700, C11D 337
Patent
active
057835411
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to packaged detergent and/or additive composition for the dish washing machine.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The traditional form of detergent and/or additive compositions for use in dish washing is granules or non particulate solids such as bars or tablets or briquettes. In the following, the term tablet will refer to any form of non particulate solids. For automatic dish washing machines, said detergent and/or additive tablets or granules are respectively placed or poured in the dispenser located in said dish washing machine or in an adequate dispensing device which is then placed in said washing machine.
In order to simplify the dosing of detergents for a washing cycle in a machine and to avoid wasting through spillage during the dosing action, EP-B-0 388 105 (=D1) describes a unit packaged detergent. Said unit packaged detergent is a detergent packaged in a water soluble polymer film or sheet in such a form that it is suitable for one wash. This unit packaged detergent is placed in the machine without unwrapping the contained detergent from the packaging. This is possible, since said packaging is made of a water dissolvable polymer film. To avoid the unwrapping of the detergent from the packaging has several advantages. First, said unit packaged detergent prevents wasting through spillage of the detergent and/or additive composition. Second, said unit packaged detergent eliminates the need for the user to estimate the dosage of said composition required and ensures that the correct dosage of said composition per wash cycle is used by the user. Third, the fingers of a user do not come in contact with the wrapped detergent composition.
The problem of D1 is to provide a polymer film with increased solubility to avoid remnants of gel or jelly of insoluble polymer film which may adhere to the washed clothes. This problem is solved by developing a polymer having a dissolution time in water of less than 20 sec at 20.degree. C. But this development cannot be readily applied in an automatic dish washing machine.
Indeed, we found that there is a sub-optimum washing performance obtained with a detergent packaged as in D1, as compared to the same amount of the detergent, but introduced through the dispenser of the dish washing machine. We have identified the cause for this sub-optimum performance, which is a loss of detergent in the initial rinse cycle prior to the main wash cycle in a dish washing machine. The initial rinse cycle is a prewash with cold water of the tap (10.degree. C. to 20.degree. C.) without detergent and lasting for about 10 min to 15 min. Consequently, we have determined that the packaging as described in D1 dissolves completely releasing the contained detergent in the water of the initial rinse cycle, i.e. part of the detergent dissolves during the initial rinse cycle. The sub-optimum washing performance is a consequence of the dissolution of part of the detergent during the initial rinse cycle, since it is lost for the main wash.
Therefore, we have found that to avoid a precocious dissolution of the detergent, the unit packaged detergent described in the prior art has to be protected from the water of the initial rinse cycle. A possible solution would be to place the unit packaged detergent of the prior art inside the dispenser of the dish washing machine which opens only with the start of the main wash cycle. But this may cause logistic problems. Indeed, the dimension and the shape of the unit packaged detergent is then limited by the dimension and the shape of the dispenser of the dish washing machine. This limitation could be especially a problem when the unit packaged detergent contains detergent in solid form, like tablets, which may not have the dimension and the shape of the dispenser. As a consequence, it is possible that such a unit packaged detergent containing a tablet cannot be used in that particular washing machine without avoiding a decreased washing performance.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provi
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Research Disclosure 21606, Apr. 1982, pp. 105-106.
Tack Joris Josef Gustaaf
Van De Pol Bruno
Varlet Jean-Luc Andre
Bolam B. M.
Douyon Lorna M.
Echler, Sr. Richard S.
Lieberman Paul
Procter & Gamble Company
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