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AssigneeColgate-Palmolive Company
InventorDean G. Klewsaat
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An emulsion of cationic/anionic surfactant complex 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. Major advantages of the invention are that the cationic/anionic surfactant complex, in emulsion form, is stable during storage, as is the emulsion, and the complex does not deposit on the laundry as greasy stains, such as are obtained when a sufficient antistatic and fabric softening proportion of cationic surfactant is added to a control wash water containing a detersive proportion of synthetic anionic detergent. Also within the invention are processes for manufacturing the described emulsion and for employing it with synthetic anionic detergent in washing laundry and simultaneously treating it to make it softer and static-free.
An aqueous antistatic and fabric softening emulsion of a complex of a cationic surfactant and an anionic surfactant, which comprises a complex produced by heating with stirring said cationic and anionic surfactants to form a melt complex and then cooling to solidify said complex in which the proportion of cationic and anionic moieties thereof is in the range of about 1:1 to 1:1.5, and which said softening emulsion comprises 10 parts by weight of said complex, 0.5 to 10 parts of emulsifying agent, which is selected from the group consisting of ethoxylated higher alkyl amines, ethoxylated higher alkyl amine/higher fatty acid complexes, mixtures of ethoxylated higher alkyl amines and ethoxylated higher alkyl amine/higher fatty acid complexes, mixtures of ethoxylated higher alkyl amine and ethoxylated higher alcohols, and mixtures of ethoxylated higher alkyl amine/higher fatty acid complexes and ethoxylated higher alcohols, and 15 to 100 parts of aqueous medium.
An emulsion according to claim 15 wherein the cationic surfactant is a quaternary ammonium salt or imidazolinium salt, or a mixture thereof, the anionic surfactant is a sulfonate, a sulfate or a carboxylate, or a mixture thereof, and the proportions of emulsifying agent and aqueous medium are 1 to 5 parts and 15 to 50 parts, respectively.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.