Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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The present invention relates to a process for
~ashing and cleaning clothes in a washing machine with a
liquid detergent which is introduced gradually into the
washing medium from a rechargeable device pLaced in the
drum of the machine together with the clothes to be washed;
the invention also relates to the device ~for carrying out
this process.
Liquid detergent compositions for washing clothes
are commercially available. They have a variety of advan-
tageous properties compared with the numerous granulardetergent compositions, but they have no~ become as widely
used as might have been expected in v;ew of their proper-
ties, because they are to some extent unsuitable for use
in the majority of washing machines curren~ly on the
1S market~
In fact, whether these machines are front loaders
with a horizontal rotarr drum, or top loaders, the dis-
pensers for the measure of detergen~ used for each washing
cycle are generally rather unsuitable for holding liquid
detergents and subsequently dispersing them in the washing
bath, the majority of the machines currently used by
housewives in fact having been designed at a time when
only powdered or granular detergents were on the market.
The Applicant Company has found that part of the
liquid detergent composition placed ;n the dispenser of
the machine before it is switched on is often unable to be
used for the wash.
In fact, the whole of the washing product is
carried away with the first few ml of water introduced
into the machinej and, in most cases, this water goes
directly into filling the empty;ng circu;ts of the machine,
in which the previous washing operation had only left a
very small quantity of ~a~er~
When the washing product has entered ~his circuit,
virtually none of it will migrate into the washing bath
with which the clothes are impregnated, either during the
filling of the machine or during the actual wash, and it
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ill be elimirated ~;th the F;rst empty;n9 operation. The
loss~s, i.e. ehe unut~ d ~ash1ng prsduct~ can be sub-
stane;al, particu~arly ;n certain types o~ washing mach;ne.
A conslderable pro~ort;on of ~he liquid composition placed
in the dispenser provided for a solid vash;ng product is
not utilized. The magnitude of this loss depends especially
on the volume of the emptying circuit upstream of the pump,
the water inlet speed and the position of the ~ater inlet
point. One can understand that, in a number of cases, a
method for uashing in a machine using a liquid detergent
;s more costly than it ought to be, and it is not sur-
prising that the housewife, una~are of the losses incurred,
prefers not to use a liquid dëtergent despite its advan-
tageous properties.
Thus, by making it possible to overcome these
unavoidable losses, the present invention is particularly
useful.
It relates to an improved process for washing and
cleaning clothes in a ~ashing mach;ne of a common type,
2û which compr;ses using a detergent in the liquid state, ~he
viscosity of ~hich is such that it can flow freely, even
at room temperature. In this improved process, ~he sa;d
detergent is released progressively into the washing bath
from a device placed in the drum of the m~chine together
with the clothes to be washed, i.e. from a free body dispenser~
instead of being in~roduced from the dispenser provided by the washing
machine manufacturer for holding the washing product.
The process consists in pouring into an appropriate
device a predetermined quantity - depending especially on
the quantity of clothes to be washed, the degree of soiling
and the capacity of the machine - of a liquid detergent,
then placing the device in the drum of the machine together
with the clothes to be washed, and then sw;tching on and
allo~ing the usual ~ashing cycle of the machine ~o proceed;
the device containing the ~ashing produc~ will preferably
be placed to~ards the top of the tank, in the drum. Thus,
as the drum in the majority of present-day washing machines
does not start to ro~ate until the tank has filled, ~he
device ~ill only start to empty when it is in the presence
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of a sufficient quant;ty of water to prevent prolonged
contact of ~he dry or ju~t damp clothes ~ith the concen-
trated detergent. Ho~ever, it is also possible to place
the dev;ce at the bottom of the drum, espec;ally ;n the
S case ~here the drum starts to rotate as soon as the ~ater
;s adm;tted, or even ;n the m;ddle of the clothes. The
house~ife ~;ll have no d;ff;culty in choosing the pos;~ion
best suited to the part;cular circumstances of her ~ash.
When spinning has ended, the dev;ce is removed
from the ~ashing machine together with the clean clothes
and put aside for subsequent use.
this dev;ce, ~hich ;s another subject of the in-
vent;on, possesses at least~one f;ll;ng or;f;ce, the
d;mens;ons of ~h;ch are sufficient to enable the ~ashing
agent to be introduced easily9 irrespective of its vis-
cosity and the shape and mouth of the ~ashing agent con-
ta;ner. This orifice is prov;ded with adapted closure
means wh;ch can be movable and may or may not be fixed to
the body of the dev;ce, including plugs, caps and the like,
or can be a permanent f;xture l;ke funnels f;xed around
the neck of the orifice and enter;ng the dev;ce, of uhich
the length and diameter at the ;nner end are such that a
l;quid wh;ch has entered the dev;ce ;s practically unable
to come out aga;n. It can be seen that, in the latter case~
2~ the filling orifice can be identical to one of the open liquid vents
with which the device must be provided. I~he number and shape of
these liquid vents are not critical; it is possible to have a single
vent, two to ten vents or a multitude of very small vents up to about
100; preference is given to devices provided with two or four vents
throu~h which the liquid will be released gradually. The diamRter
or cross dimension of the wents is generally between 2 mm and 10 mm
in the case oE the devices which have from 2 to 8 of these.
It ;s obvious that, as not all the liquid vents
are generally prov;ded ~ith closure systems, they must be
located above the maximum filling level of the device; on
~he other hand, the;r respect;ve positions are arb;trary.
Those skilled in the art will be capable of determining,
by means of routine experiments, the number of these vents
as a function of their shape, their position and the vis-
cosity of the liquid ~ashing agent used, s~ that the whole
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of the said agent is discharged into the washing bath in
about 1 to 10 minu~es~ preferably in about 3 minutes. I~
is obviously necessary to make allo~ances for the fac~
that, for a given device filled with a given washing agent,
the emptying time will depend on the diameter of the drum
of the machine in which it is used, its speed of rotation
and even how full of clothes the drum is.
The device can be made of a variety of materials,
which must be unbreakable and withstand tel~peratures up to
abou~ 100C. A large number of synthetic polymers will
be suitableO for example low density polyethylene, poly-
propylene or other elastomers.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the
walls of the device will be made of a transparent material
or will have a transparent ~indow so that the house~ife can
see the level ~hich the liquid has reached in the device
during the filling operation, in order to avoid any in-
advertent overflow.
In a preferred embodiment, ~he device carries
reference marks indicating the volume of li~uid introduced
when the reference mark is reached9 it will ~hen be
possible to use the same device for washing machines of
different capacities or to adapt the quanti~y of ~ashing
agent ~o the operation which is to be carried out.
Furthermore, to eliminate any risk of premature
wear on ~he clothes by rubbing, the device has a smoo~h
outer surface and no sharp corners; its ~alls are rela-
tively st;ff9 ho~ever, so that the device is not made
difficult to handle when full by the deformation of the
walls resulting from the pressure exerted by the fingers
gripping the device.
In a preferred embodiment, the device will have a
sufficiently wide base for it to be perfectly stable and
for it not to be knocked over by a clumsy movement,
especiaLly while it is being filled with the washing agent~
Means for fixing the device to the drum of ~he
machine, such as suction discs or hooks, are provided-in a
variant of the device of the inven~ion. They make it
possible ~o restrict the noise caused by the device rolling
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in the drum during the washing cycle and the rubbing of
the device against the clothes during spinning; in any
case, the device is heLd against the walls of the drum
~ith the clothes.
In the clothes washing and cleaning process accor
ding to the invention, the device described above is
filled with a liquid detergent. This comprises the usual
components, i.e. at least one surface-active agent ~ith a
liquid vehicle, and, if appropriate, deeergency adjuvants
~builders), foam regulators, enzymes and enzyme stabilizers~
bleaching agents, soil suspending agents and textile con
ditioners.
The liquid detergent compositions used in the
washing process of the invention can also contain fluores-
cent brighteners, perfumes, colourants, opacifiers, antioxidants~ bactericides~ bulking agents and the like.
The surface-active agents present in the composi-
tions used in the process of the invention can be anionic,
non-ionic, ampholytic or zwitterionic; mixtures of these
can also be used. Exampl~s of these surface-active agents
are given in Patent Application EP-A-0,028~865; a cationic
surface-active agent can also be added, as in the said
patent application, page 5, line 32 to page 7, line 21.
The quantity of surface-active agents present in the liquid
compositions i5 generally between 5X and 70X by weight of
the ~hole, and it generally depends on whether or not deter-
gency adjuvants are present; if the latter are present~
the quantity is smaller. Among the ~ell-kno~n adjuvants,
there may be mentioned the alkali metal salts of phosphates
and polyphosphates~ of nitrilotriacetic acid and of citric
acid, or alternatively the synthetic zeolites.
The liquid vehicle of the composition can be
~ater, an organic solvent such as aliphatic mcnoalcohols
and polyalcohols having up to 6 carbon atoms and their
ethers, or mixtures thereof.
Amon~ the optional compounds in the liquid washing
composition, there may be mentioned the well-known seques-
tering agents such as polyacrylates~ poLymaleates and co-
polymers of unsaturated acids and methyl vinyl ether, and
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also soil suspending agents such as polyvinylpyrrolidone and
the sodium salt of carboxymethylcellulose, hydrotropic agents
such as salts of alkylarylsulphonic acids, and foam regula-
tors such as C16 to C22 fatty acids and polysiloxanesO
All these compounds can be introduced into liquid washing
compositions which can be used in the process according to
the invention, in variable quantities well known to the
specialist.
Polydialkylsiloxanes can also be introduced into the
liquid washing compositions for their softening properties.
The quantity of liquid washing agent used in the process
according to the invention obviously depends on the composi-
tion of the agent r the nature and state of the clothes to be
washed and the capacity of the washing machine. The devices
according to the invention can contain from approximately
lO0 to 400 ml of liquid and their total internal volume will
be from about 150 ml to about 500 mll but it is perfectly
possible to design smaller devices for very effective washing
agents or larger devices for washing machines used in service
enterprises~
Different devices according to the invention are des-
cribed below, by way of examples, with reerence to the
attached drawings:
Figure lA is a top view of one embodiment of a device
according to the invention,
Figure lB is a cross-sectional side view of a screw cap
for the device of the first embodiment~
Figure lC is a cross sectional side view of the device
shown in Figure lA,
Figure 2 is a cross-sectional side view of a second
embodiment of a device according to the invention, and
Figure 3 is a cross-sectional side view of a third
embodiment of a device according to the invention.
The device of the first embodiment shown in Figures lA,
lB and lC has a maximum diameter of 105 mm and a height of
65 mm without the screw p]ug. The container 1 is made of
313~
transparent polyethylene. The walls have a thickness of 0.6
mm. The diameter of the filling orifice 2 is 40 mm and the
diameter of the two liquid vents 3 is 5 mm; the vents 3 are
45 mm from the bottom of the container 1 (distance measured
vertically). The body of the container 1 carries two level
marks 4 corresponding to volumes of 130 ml and 180 ml res-
pectively. A wire ending in hooks, (not shown) which can fit
into the holes made in the surface of the drums, may option-
ally be clamped around the neck of the container 1. The
screw cap 5 screws tightly over the neck of the container 1.
The device of the second embodiment shown in Figure 2
is a hollow sphere 10 of diameter 80 mm, which is truncated
so that the sphere 10 rests on a ~lat bottom 11, and of
which the lockable lid 12 with a hinge 13 and a latch 14 is
in the shape of a spherical portion matching the shape of
the sphere 10 and the liquid introduction orifice which has
been made therein by cutting along a plane. The device,
made of opaque polypropylene, has a transparent window 15 in
which two volume marks 1~ are drawnO The li~uid vents 17~
of which there are three, (two shown) are located above the
upper filling level.
The device of the third embodiment shown in Figure 3
is a hollow ring 20 of external diameter ~ cm and internal
diameter 3 cm, in which a 2 cm circular hole has been made
in order to serve as the filling orifice 21. This orifice
21 is provided with a lid 22 having a hinge 23 and a locking
device 24. Four orifices 25 (two shown) of diameter 3 mm
are made in the upper part of the ring 20.
EXAMPLE 1
In a specific example of how the process according to
the invention is carried out, the device of the invention
shown in Figure 1 is filled with 220 ml of a liquid washing
agent consisting of:
~2~
Percentage (by weight)
sodium dodecylbenzenesulphonate
~linear dodecyl) 11.3
triethanolamine alkyl(copra)-sulphate 4.0
ethoxylated alcohol (Cl3_17; 7C2H4O 12.0
fatty acid (Cl2 to Cl4) 10~0
oleic acid 5.0
diethylenetriaminepentamethylphosphonic
acid 0.6
ethanol 8.6
propanediol 3.0
NaOH for a final pH of 7 7
secondary components
The filled device is placed in a commercial front-
loading washing machine, on top of the clothes to be
washed, and the washing and spinning cycle is allowed
to proceed normally. At the end of the operation, the
clothes and the device are removed from the machineO The
device contains only a few drops of water and can be put
away for subsequent use.
EXA~PLE 2
3.2 kg of clothes are introduced into a BR~NDT top-
loading washing machine of 5 kg capacity, the drum of
which starts to rotate while the tank is filling with
water. Before the machine is closed, a device according
to Figure l, filled with 180 ml of a liquid washing agent
of viscosity 0.12 Pa.S, is placed on the clothes. It is
found that all the washing agent passes into the washing
bath in l minute 30 seconds after the drum has started
rotating, the complete machine cycle lasting about 50
minutes.
EXAMPLE 3
A wash is carried out under the same conditions as
in Example 2, but with a PHILIPS washing machine; in this
case, the device releases the washing agent in 3 minutes.
