Thickened bleach compositions for treating hard-to-remove soils

An alkaline, aqueous, liquid composition having a pH of from about 9 to about 13, consisting essentially of:

• (a) from about 1/4% to about 20% of a clay thickening and corrosion protection agent selected from the group consisting of smectite and attapulgite clays and mixtures thereof,
• (b) from about 1/2% to about 9% of an alkali metal silicate having an SiO.sub.2 :M.sub.2 O ratio greater than about 1 wherein M is selected from the group consisting of sodium and potassium,
• (c) from about 1/4% to about 20% of a safety, dispensing, and/or cleaning improver selected from the group consisting of water-insoluble mineral oil compounds containing carbon chains in excess of about 20 carbon atoms and having a specific gravity of at least about 0.82, water-insoluble saturated fatty acid esters containing from about 13 to about 22 carbon atoms, water-insoluble dialkyl ethers wherein each alkyl contains from 1 to about 13 carbon atoms and the total carbon atoms is from about 7 to about 14, and mixtures thereof having a freezing point below about 15.degree. C. and a vapor point above about 100.degree. C.
• (d) a hypohalite liberating bleach component selected from the group consisting of alkali metal and alkaline earth metal hypochlorites and hypobromites, brominated trisodium phosphate, chlorinated trisodium phosphate, heterocyclic N-bromo and N-chloro imides and mixtures thereof, said hypohalite liberating bleach component being at a concentration to provide an available halogen level of from about 1/2% to about 10%,
• (e) from 0% to about 10% of a bleach stable surfactant selected from the group consisting of alkyl sulfate salts containing from about 8 to about 18 carbon atoms in the alkyl group and water-soluble betaine surfactants having the general formula:
• ##STR2## wherein R.sub.1 is an alkyl group containing from about 8 to 18 carbon atoms, R.sub.2 and R.sub.3 are each alkyl groups containing from 1 to about 4 carbon atoms and R.sub.4 is an alkylene group selected from the group consisting of methylene, propylene, butylene and pentylene,
• (f) from 0% to about 15% of detergency improvers selected from the group consisting of alkali metal carbonates, polyphosphonates, polycarboxylates, phosphates and mixtures thereof,
• (g) from 0% to about 10% methylene chloride, and
• (h) from 0% to about 60% of an abrasive selected from the group consisting of quartz, pumice, pumicite, titanium dioxide, silica sand, calcium carbonate, zirconium silicate, diatomaceous earth, whiting, feldspar and mixtures thereof, said abrasive having particle size diameters of from about 1 to about 250 microns and specific gravities of from about 0.5 to about 5.0, and
• (i) the remainder water, said composition having a viscosity of from about 100 CPS to about 1,000,000 CPS.