Laundry system having unitized dosing

Abstract

Compositions, articles and methods are provided for supplying fabric care benefits to clothing or fabrics in an automated washing machine and by manual washing. The fabric care compositions preferably have less than about 5% detergent surfactants, more preferably less than 3%, even more preferably less than 1% and are most preferably free of detergent surfactants. Similarly, the fabric care compositions preferably have less than about 5% fabric softener actives, more preferably less than 3%, even more preferably less than 1% and are most preferably free of detergent surfactants. The laundry articles can take a variety of forms in a variety of physical states all of which will rapidly dispense a unitized amount of one or more selected fabric care agents to a wash and / or rinse bath solution during the laundering process under a variety of conditions. The invention also pertains to laundry kits that contain a variety of such articles and instructions concerning their use. Likewise, methods for preparing a customized laundry solution to obtain a specific; fabric care benefit selected based on the user's personal preferences and / or the fabric care needs of the fabrics being laundered are also provided. Further, the present invention also concerns methods for assisting a consumer in identifying the unitized articles to be used in preparing a laundry solution that will impart desired fabric care benefits as well as merchandising displays for dispensing the articles, assembling customized laundry kits and instructing the consumer on the selection and use of laundry articles.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE RELATED TO CASE[0001] This patent application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application Serial No. 60 / 203,472 filed May 11, 2000 by Welch, et al.[0002] The present invention relates to compositions, articles and methods for supplying fabric care benefits to clothing or fabrics in an automated washing machine and by manual washing. The articles take a variety of forms and will rapidly dispense a unitized amount of one or more selected fabric care agents to a wash and / or rinse bath solution during the laundering process under a variety of conditions. The invention also pertains to laundry kits that contain a variety of such articles and instructions concerning their use. Likewise, methods for preparing a customized laundry solution to obtain fabric care benefits selected based on the user's personal preferences and / or the fabric care needs of the fabrics being laundered are also provided. Further, the present invention also concerns methods for assisting a con...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0022] Further, the present invention provides an effervescent laundry article for dispensing in a laundry wash and / or rinse bath solution, the article having a fabric care composition comprising an active or mixture of actives that is between about 1% and about 99% of the composition and less than about 5%, preferably less than about 3% and more preferably less than about 1% detergent surfactant, and less than about 5%, preferably less than about 3% and more preferably less than about 1% fabric softener active, the composition having an effervescent system comprising an acid, carbon dioxide source and optionally a binder. Even more preferred is an effervescent laundry article that is free of detergent surfactant and fabric softener actives, the article having a fabric care composition comprising an active or mixture of actives that is between about 1% and about 99% of the composition and an effervescent system comprising an acid, carbon dioxide source and optionally a binder. Optionally, the effervescent system will comprise an effervescent granule to improve the release of the active or actives from the effervescent laundry article.

[0028] In a further process aspect, the invention provides methods for dispensing packaged laundry additive products for use by individuals in customizing a laundry solution to deliver a fabric care benefit desired by the individual. The method comprises the step of providing a supply of at least two different types of packaged articles, each having a unitized dose of a fabric care composition, each fabric care composition having a fabric care active or mixture of actives that is between about 1% and about 99% of the composition. The method also includes the step of providing a dispensing device for housing the supply of packaged articles that is capable of allowing an individual to select one or more types of fabric enhancing articles and removing the packaged article from the dispensing device.

[0033] The present invention concerns the unitized delivery of fabric care actives to a laundry solution, regardless of whether the delivery is to a wash and / or rinse bath solution, the temperature of the solution or the presence of other materials in the solution. The delivery of a fabric care active or mixture of actives to a laundry solution in a unitized dose enables a consumer to impart specific fabric care benefits to the fabrics while maximizing convenience and flexibility.

Problems solved by technology

During the laundry process, a substantial amount of perfume that is added to the wash and / or the rinse cycle is lost with the water and in the subsequent drying cycle (either line drying or machine drying).

This has resulted in both a waste of unusable perfume that are not deposited on the laundered fabrics, and a contribution to the general air pollution from the release of volatile organic compounds to the air.

However, the encapsulation process is more demanding, and perfume leakage due to breakage of the microcapsules during processing, packaging, shipping, and storing of the product tends to occur.

However, the activation to release perfume can be less effective than the encapsulation methods described herein above.

Many types of aminofunctional silicones also cause fabric yellowing and such silicones are not preferred.

Although silicones with a high number, e.g., greater than about 0.5 millimolar equivalent of amine groups can be used, they are not preferred because they can cause fabric yellowing.

However, it is to be noted that excessive scum dispersant may adversely affect softening where the use of fabric softener actives are to be added to the laundry solution.

Therefore, cyclodextrin does not complex effectively with some very low molecular weight organic amines and acids when they are present at low levels.

The addition of the glycols tends to fill up void space in the cyclodextrin cavity that is unable to be filled by some malodor molecules of relatively smaller sizes.

It has been found that this small amount of chlorine in the tap water can cause fading of some fabric dyes.

Although by this process no dye molecules are lost, the result of this chelation is a change of hue or a dimming or loss of intensity to the color of the fabric.

However, this sameness definition does not exclude polyamines that comprise other extraneous units comprising the polymer backbone and that are present due to an artifact of the chosen method of chemical synthesis.

However, not all of the preferred heavy metal ion controlling agents comprise backbones that include a "chain elongation moiety".

However, prior to the present invention, their use in laundry applications has been limited to the delivery of detergent actives.

Images