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AssigneeColgate-Palmolive Company
InventorRonald D. Kern
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A particulate agglomerate of cationic/anionic surfactant complex and bentonite is provided, for addition to the wash water in the wash cycle operation of automatic washing machines, to make washed and dried laundry softer to the touch and static-free, after rinsing and automatic tumble drying. Among the various advantages of the invention are increased stability of the cationic/anionic surfactant complex in such agglomerate form and during storage before use, the fabric softening effect of the betonite, and the ready dispersion of the complex in the wash water, so that it does not deposit on the laundry as greasy stains of the type that are obtained when a sufficient antistatic and fabric softening proportion of cationic surfactant or an antistatic and fabric softening proportion of an essentially pure cationic/anionic surfactant complex is added to a control wash in which the wash water contains a detersive proportion of synthetic organic anionic detergent. Also within the invention are processes for manufacturing the described agglomerate and for employing it together with a built synthetic organic anionic detergent composition in the washing machine to simultaneously wash and treat the laundry to make it soft and static-free.
A fabric softening antistatic particulate wash cycle additive, for use in conjunction with anionic detergent(s) in the wash water of antomatic washing machines to wash, soften and render antistatic laundry washed in such machines and subsequently dried in an automatic laundry dryer, which comprises about 10 parts by weight of a preformed complex of a cationic surfactant and an anionic surfactant, in which complex the molar proportion of cationic to anionic moieties is in the range of about 1:1 to 1:1.5, and 1 to 80 parts by weight of bentonite, said complex being in a coating on said bentonite particles, with the particle size of the combined particles being less than 250 microns in diameter, and which contains from 0.5 to 10 parts by weight of an ethoxylated higher alkylamine in which the higher alkyl is of 12 18 carbon atoms and which contains 10 to 50 moles of ethylene oxide per mole as an emulsifying agent for the cationic/anionic complex.
A process according to claim 12 wherein the wash water is in an automatic washing machine and its temperature is in the range of 30.degree. to 60.degree. C., the synthetic anionic organic detergent of the detergent composition is selected from the group consisting of higher fatty alcohol sulfates, higher alkylbenzene sulfonates, sulfated ethoxylated higher fatty alcohols, olefin sulfonates, paraffin sulfonates, monoglyceride sulfates, and mixtures thereof, the builder is selected from the group consisting of polyphosphates, carbonates, bicarbonates, borates, silicates, zeolites and mixtures thereof, and the filler salt is sodium sulfate, the antistatic and fabric softening wash cycle laundry additive is comprised of a complex of a cationic surfactant which is a quaternary ammonium salt or an imidazolinium salt or a mixture thereof, and an anionic surfactant, which is a sulfonate, sulfate or carboxylate, or a mixture thereof, and bentonite, with the proportion of complex to bentonite being in the range of 10:1 to 10:80, and the drying is in an automatic laundry dryer.
A process according to claim 13 wherein the temperature of the wash water is in the range of 35.degree. to 50.degree. C., the synthetic anionic organic detergent of the detergent composition is sodium linear higher alkylbenzene sulfonate, sodium higher fatty alcohol sulfate, sodium higher fatty alcohol ethoxylate sulfate, or a mixture thereof, the builder is sodium tripolyphosphate, sodium pyrophosphate, sodium carbonate, sodium bicarbonate, sodium silicate, sodium borate, or a mixture thereof, the proportions of synthetic anionic organic detergent, builder and filler salt are in the ranges of 15 to 30%, 25 to 70%, and 0 to 40%, respectively, the antistatic and fabric softening wash cycle laundry additive is an agglomerate of a complex of about equimolar proportions of a quaternary ammonium salt cationic surfactant and a higher alkylbenzene sulfonate anionic surfactant detergent, with bentonite of particle sizes substantially all of which are in the range of 37 to 74 microns, in minor diameters, with the agglomerate being of particle sizes substantially all of which are in the range of 105 to 210 microns, in minor diameters.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.