Flushable compositions
AssigneeKimberly-Clark Corporation
InventorRichard S. Yeo
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The present invention encompasses flushable compositions and flushable products, such as flushable personal hygiene articles, flushable medical, hospital and surgical supplies, and flushable household wipes and packaging material that have sufficient wet tensile strength for their intended use, particularly prolonged or extended use, in the presence of body waste fluids, but which disintegrate and disperse in the presence of ordinary tap water so as to be flushable in a conventional toilet and disposable in municipal or private sewage systems without obstructing or clogging the toilet or sewage system.
Claims19
A flushable composition comprising,
- a temperature sensitive water soluble polymer, in combination with means for altering the temperature at which the polymer is water soluble, the means comprising a salt admixed with the polymer in an amount sufficient to render the polymer reversibly water insoluble in the presence of body waste fluids having a temperature above approximately 25.degree. C., but soluble or dispersible in the presence of normal tap water having a temperature below approximately 23.degree. C.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.