WO1996033650A1

WO1996033650A1 - Cleaning system

Info

Publication number: WO1996033650A1
Application number: PCT/US1996/005718
Authority: WO
Inventors: Colin William Brown; Gerald Leslie Hart; Andrew Philip Wilson Stedman; Philip Michael LAST
Original assignee: SC Johnson and Son Inc
Current assignee: SC Johnson and Son Inc
Priority date: 1995-04-24
Filing date: 1996-04-24
Publication date: 1996-10-31
Anticipated expiration: 1997-10-24
Also published as: ZA963228B; GB9508246D0; AU5572396A

Abstract

Cleaning systems are provided in which a cleaning powder is worked into a textured fibrous furnishing material, particularly a carpet, by an applicator in or on the surface of which is provided a series of pores sufficiently large to entrain particles of the powder which pores have flexible edges. Preferably the pores are formed by a series of loops of a stiff filamentary material which stands proud of the applicator surface.

Description

CLEANING SYSTEM

This invention relates to cleaning systems particularly for cleaning of furnishing materials having a textured surface.

A developing method of cleaning textured furnishing materials, especially those having a pile construction, is to work a cleaning power into the material. Various commercial cleaning powder materials are available. These are worked into the texture (pile) by a brush i.e. a device where there are relatively long extending rigid filaments. But brushes have been found to damage the texture in some furnishing materials and also are found to be inefficient as the brush filaments move the power aside away from the point of cleaning.

It has been found that an applicator which has a porous textured surface the pores of which have resilient edges provides an appreciably better means of applying and working the cleaning powder into the textured material. In a preferred embodiment the pores are created by loops of a relatively stiff filament which stand proud of i.e. are raised above and project from the surface of the material in which the ends of the loop are embedded i.e. so that the loop is exposed and visible above the surface on which the loop material is disposed.

According to the invention there is provided a cleaning system for textured surface furnishing materials, which system comprises a cleaning powder and an applicator having a powder application surface over or in which there are disposed substantial (i.e. sufficiently large to entrain particles of the powder) pores having flexible edges. There is further provided a kit for such a system comprising a container of cleaning powder and an applicator as just defined. There is also provided a method of cleaning in which a cleaning powder is disposed over a stained area in a textured furnishing material and the powder is worked into the stained area by an applicator of the type described above. Another embodiment of the invention is the use of an applicator as hereinabove described for the application of a cleaning powder to a textured furnishing material.

The textured furnishing materials on which the system of the invention can be used are soft i.e. flexible materials made of fibrous or filamentary material woven into or mounted on or bonded to a base material, and are generally pile materials especially floor coverings for example carpets and rugs produced by a traditional method in which cut or looped elements protrude above the base fabric. The applicator system can also be applied to the treatment of soft-furnishing fabrics for example velvets, moquette materials and other furnishing fabrics having a pile or other construction in which fibers extend above a base material. The system is also applicable to furnishing materials in which there is a textured fibrous or filamentary surface in which individual filaments may not extend much above the surface of the basic surface e.g. non-woven (bonded) floor materials such as caφet-tiles. Thus the term carpet includes any soft floor covering such as woven, tufted, bonded and needle-punched carpets.

The porous surface of the applicator can be any surface which has a degree of resilience which will avoid damage to the textured material to be cleaned. We believe that the porous structure entrains the powder cleaning material and then works it into the textured structure, particularly a pile structure, being cleaned. The surface of the applicator could therefore be formed from a porous material simulating natural sponge in construction i.e. relatively large pores opening onto the surface, the edges of which are of a degree of flexibility which will not damage the textured surface of the material being cleaned but with sufficient rigidity to entrap the powder material and distribute it through the textured surface to be cleaned.

However, even a porous foam structure with smaller numerous pores opening onto a surface such as a polyurethane foam would be operable providing the pores were sufficiently substantial to entrap particles of the power cleaner.

The degree of flexibility of the surface may have to be tested in relation to a particular material to be cleaned. A porous material which has a degree of rigidity which would not harm a type of textured surface say a very hard wearing synthetic polymer carpet might be too rigid for a more sensitive material for example a carpet or furnishing fabric in which the "pile" was of relatively soft fiber e.g. a fine wool or silk. Generally natural or synthetic sponge structure materials would be satisfactory but brittle porous structures such as created by foamed polystyrene or by calciferous material such as pumice or "coral" would not be satisfactory as being too unyielding and rigid.

In a preferred form the pores are created by loops of a relatively stiff filament which stand proud of the material in which the ends of the loop are embedded. Thus the applicator employed can comprise a rigid or semi-rigid (resilient) base material to a surface of which there are applied loops of a stiff filamentary material which filaments can be circular or ribbon-like in cross-section, the ends of the loop being embedded in the support material. Depending on a cross-section of the filament used to produce the loops the edges of the loops can have sharp lateral edges for example where the loop is formed from a tape-like or ribbon¬ like filament as distinct from one of rounded cross-section. Preferably there is a provided woven material in which the construction of the weave creates loops of stiff filamentary material extending above the surfaces of the weave which woven material can be applied to an underlying rigid or resilient base. The stiff filamentary material must have sufficient flexibility for the loops to bend in the direction of movement of the applicator and the edges should not be so sharp as to damage the textured material which is being cleaned. Again the degree of flexibility may depend on the strength and resistance to cutting of the fibers of the texture material being cleaned and a more rigid material may be used on a carpet with harder fibers than on a carpet made of say a soft wool or silk. Usually the filamentary material will be formed from a synthetic plastics material and metal fibers for instance of the type used in a open-weave metal cleaning pads will not be suitable since they are too rigid. A typical looped material can be as described in UK Patent GB-2, 157,329B which describes an abrading sheet material with a knitted ground structure and laid-in floated threads of a second harder material. The ground material therefore forms an anchor for the loops which are raised above or project from the ground material. Such a knitted material can be disposed over a resilient core, for example, of a plastic foam to form a scouring pad. However, the only use described is as a scouring pad for hard surfaces i.e. as an abrading material. Loops can be formed of a polyester yarn such as the commercial material "Mylar" (™). the ground material can be a knitted mixture of a PVC yarn and the polyester yarn with each loop or hoop having sharp lateral edges.

In one form of the invention there can be provided a rigid support for example a wooden or plastic substrate on one side of which is disposed the porous surfaced material and on the other side of which is disposed a sponge or brush structure for cleaning after initial application of the powder. In another embodiment of the invention there could be a simple foamed material pad or one surface of which was exposed a suitable porous surface for example a looped material. The use of a foam or sponge support has the advantage of providing some resilience (springiness) to the applicator which would be more effective and more comfortable for the user. Where the surface is a looped structure it is particularly useful to have a foam or sponge support to provide the said resilience to the applicator surface. The total applicator may be of sponge material or the sponge material be in turn disposed over a rigid substrate on the reverse side of which there can be provided a brush element or handle to assist in the operation of the applicator. The reverse side of the applicator could be provided with a means for attaching the applicator to a container for the powder for example by grooves which mate with lugs on the powder container or by a detachable adhesive mounting or by using a "Velcro" (™) or other mating device.

The loops can be formed of relatively stiff materials such as a nylon or polypropylene or polyester. In constructing the looped surface the loops of the filaments must extend sufficiently above the surface on which they are disposed to be determinable as a loop but not sufficiently far as to create a brush construction i.e. filaments extending outwardly beyond the surface as the filament loop should not extend more than a short distance beyond the surface. The cleaning powder can be one of the commercial cleaning powders available on the market which are dry or slightly moist powders used for the cleaning of textured, especially pile furnishing material sand usually comprise a mixture of a carrier powder and an aqueous phase comprising, as well as minor ingredients (e.g. fragrance and preservative), water and a surfactant usually, but not exclusively, an anionic surfactant. Thus typical compositions of this type are slightly damp and contain the following types of ingredients:

Carrier Powder - usually wood flour or cellulose

Absorbent powders zeolites, silicas, alumino silicates, clays and other similar structures Flow aids inorganic materials like talc or calcite Water as a solvent/binding agent

Inorganic builders phosphates, alkali metal citrates

Organic solvents alcohols, isoparaffins, glycol ethers for example

Surfactants most usually from the anionic class of surfactants

Preservatives Fragrances Example A commercially available carpet cleaning powder ("Profondeur Poudre" manufactured by S. C. Johnson (France) S.A.) was employed on a carpet made of 100% wood fibers and of 100% nylon fibers. Various constructions of carpet were employed include a cut pile (Axminster type) and loop file. A standard test for cleaning capacity was to apply 10ml aliquots of 20g/l cold coffee containing milk and sugar to a 100% wood carpet and to a 100% nylon carpet using a stain applicator known to give reproducible performance.

To other specimens of carpet, used engine oil was applied superficially by means of a sponge. Every attempt was made to ensure that the applications were similar in every case. The stains were allowed to dry for a period of 24 hours after which time the value E_s was determined using a tristimulus colorimeter. E_s is a measure of the color of the stain.

For the purpose of applying the cleaning powder three type of applicator were employed. The first applicator comprised a bristle brush in which the bristles were 0.25mm to

0.3mm diameter, 25-30mm in length, plastics material such as nylon.

The second applicator comprised as a synthetic sponge, a soft open pore plastics foam material simulating the structure of natural sponge.

The third applicator comprised a relatively open soft sponge support over which was disposed a fabric having a looped surface the loops being formed of a filament of nylon.

The stains were removed by sprinkling approximately 10 grams of cleaning powder over the surface of the stained area and working it into the stained area with 50 reciprocal rubs in one direction followed by 50 reciprocal rubs at right angles to the first 50. The residual powder was then removed by vacuuming. When dry the value E_c i.e. the residual color of the cleaned off stain was determined. Percentage stain removal shown in Tables 1 and 2 is calculated using the expression:

% stain removal = [(E_s - E_c ) / E_s ] x 100 The results shown are the values obtained from duplicate determinations. Table 1. Stain removal from wool carpets using three different applicators.

Stain Removal (%) coffee motor oil a) Brush 16.9 39.3 b) Sponge 14.2 32.5 c) Looped construction Applicator 17.1 41.9

Table 2. Stain removal from nylon carpets using three different applicators.

Stain Removal (%) coffee motor oil a) Brush 19.7 20.0 b) Sponge 21.6 16.0 c) Looped construction Applicator 22.8 16.0

From these results it is quite clear that the sponge and looped construction applicators were significantly superior to the brush applicator while the looped construction applicator was superior to the sponge applicator.

The tests were repeated on two loop and one cut pile constructions. The same procedure was employed except only 20 rubs in each direction were employed. On loop pile caφets the brush was found to cause severe pile damage. There was little difference between sponge and plastic loop applicators in terms of pile damage.

In a further test a number of independent users were asked to run the applicators listed below over three type of caφet and assess the ease of use of the applicator with the results being ranked on a comparative and arbitrary scale.

For the puφose of applying the cleaning powder three type of applicators were employed.

The first group of applicators comprised bristle brushes in which the bristles were 0.25mm to 0.3mm diameter, 25-30mm in length, crimped plastics materials such as nylon, polyester and polypropylene. These were identified as a commercial ("Resolve") brush, red brush, blue brush, white brush and natural brush referring to the colors. The second group of applicators comprised synthetic foam/sponge materials. The plastic foams were of two types

(1 ) A firm pore foam material of polyurethane with a large number of pores of even size opening onto the surface;

(2) A soft open pore plastics foam material simulating the structure of natural sponge.

The third group of applicators comprised

(a) a firm closed pore material on one surface of which was applied a looped fabric i.e. a material in which filaments of a ribbon cross-section nylon filament had been woven so as to leave loops standing above the fabric surface; the underlying foam was of a polyurethane dense, relatively small, even pore foam construction.

(b) a relatively open soft sponge support over which was disposed a fabric having a looped surface the loops being formed of a filament of nylon.

In each case, a number of independent "users" were asked to run the applicator over three types of caφet and assess the ease of use of the applicator; the results were ranked on a comparative, and arbitrary scale (see Figure 1).

As will be seen from Figure 1, in terms of ease of application of the powder cleaner, the ease using a looped applicator was significantly better than that achieved by the next closest applicator namely a sponge or foam pad for each of a long cut pile, short loop and short cut pile caφet. Both these applicators were superior to the brush applicator which was the most difficult torn use as an applicator.

Claims

CLAIMS:

1. A cleaning system for textured furnishing materials which system comprises a cleaning powder and an applicator having a powder application surface over or in which there are disposed pores sufficiently large in diameter to entrain particles of the powder and having flexible edges.

2. A cleaning system according to claim 1 wherein the pores are formed by a series of loops of a stiff, filamentary material, the loops standing proud of the applicator surface.

3. A system according to claim 2 in which the loops are formed in a woven fabric disposed across the applicator surface.

4. A system according to claim 3 in which the fabric is disposed over a plastics foam substrate.

5. A system according to claim 3 in which the fabric is disposed over a plastics sponge material.

6. A system according to claim 1 in which the surface of the applicator is a plastics sponge material.

7. A kit for application of a cleaning powder to a textured furnishing material comprising a container of cleaning powder and an applicator as defined in claim 1.

8. A method of cleaning a textured furnishing material in which a cleaning powder is disposed over a stained area and worked into the stained area by an applicator as defined in claim 1. powder into a textured furnishing material.

10. A system, method, kit or use according to any one of claims 1 to 9 in which the furnishing material is a pile construction material.

11. A system, method, kit or use according to claim 10 wherein the pile construction material is a caφet.

12. A system, method, kit or use according to claim 11 in which the caφet is a looped construction pile caφet.

13. A system, method, kit or use substantially as hereinbefore particularly described.