Patent Application
20180251707
This invention concerns cleaning compositions and methods for applying the cleaning compositions to a surface such as a gutter to remove dirt and debris from the surface.
Many cleaning compositions exist that are useful for cleaning easy to reach surfaces. These cleaning solutions typically require the use of some physical device and force—such as a sponge, brush, rag, pressurized stream of water and so forth—to be effective at removing dirt and debris from surfaces.
However, some surfaces, such as gutter surfaces, become dirty but are not amenable to cleaning with compositions that require the use of cleaning devices and physical input because they are not easily accessible. Therefore, there is a need for cleaning solutions that can be applied to hard to reach surfaces such as gutters that are capable of removing dirt and debris from the hard to reach surfaces without physical cleaning assistance.
This invention includes cleaning compositions and methods for their use that are able to clean dirty surfaces without the use of cleaning devices and physical assistance.
One aspect of this invention are cleaning compositions that comprise:
The cleaning compositions of this invention preferably contain no anionic type surfactant constituents, and also preferably include no more than about 5 wt % and more preferably no more that about 2 wt % of volatile organic constituents (VOCs). In addition, the compositions of this invention may be suitable for cleaning alkaline hard surfaces and optionally include as an alkalinity constituent, one or more of a carbonate and/or bicarbonate compounds.
The cleaning compositions of this invention may be packaged as a concentrate including no water or less than the optimal amount of water or the compositions may be packaged fully diluted with water and ready to use. The methods of this invention include applying an effective amount of a cleaning composition to a surface in need of cleaning with a low pressure delivery proportioning device; allowing the applied cleaning composition to remain in contact with the surface in need of cleaning for a period of time sufficient to allow the cleaning composition to dislodge dirt and other debris from the surface and removing the cleaning composition including dislodged dirt and debris from the surface.
In one aspect for cleaning a dirty surface with the cleaning composition including the steps of: applying a cleaning composition described herein to a surface of a dirty object; allowing the cleaning composition to remain in contact with the dirty object surface for a period of time sufficient to allow the cleaning composition to dislodge at least a portion of dirt and other debris from the surface to form used cleaning solution including cleaning solution and dislodged dirt and debris; and removing at least a portion of the used cleaning composition from the dirty object surface.
The present invention relates to cleaning compositions that are useful for cleaning dirty surfaces and in particular dirty surfaces of residential and commercial gutters. This invention further relates to methods for cleaning gutters and other dirty surfaces with compositions of this invention.
In one aspect, this invention includes high performance, highly aqueous, alkaline hard surface cleaning composition useful in the cleaning of home exterior metal gutter hard surfaces such as hard surfaces including or marred by black streaks, dirt, grime, mold, mildew, algae, tree sap, acid rain and combinations thereof.
Examples of useful compositions are those that comprise at least one secondary alcohol ethoxylate, an ethoxylated quaternary ammonium compound an antistatic agent as the primary surfactant constituents and an amine oxide as a contersurfactant constituent, an alkalinity constituent, preferably an alkalinity constituent selected from, carbonate and/or bicarbonate compounds; a soil anti-redeposition agent; nonionic fluorosurfactant (to enhance wetting of the substrate), a chelating agent and a citrus terpene (to enhance soil removal) the sole organic solvent constituent, and water.
The compositions are storage stable, and are not undesirably irritating to the skin or mucous tissues of the user. The compositions are reported below in percent by weight (based on 100% total weight of a composition including water): The gutter cleaning compositions provide excellent cleaning of the soils on the exterior and interior of home and industrial exterior metal gutter surfaces.
The cleaning compositions of this invention are formulated by admixing the composition ingredients with water to form a cleaning composition. The cleaning composition may be kept in a container for an extended period of time before use. The cleaning composition is used by optionally agitating composition and then applying the composition, for example with a spray bottle, to the surface is being cleaned. While the composition is especially useful to clean the outside surfaces of household and industrial gutters, the cleaning compositions of this invention may be used to clean any surface that are marred with dirt and other debris described above.
Once the cleaning compositions are applied to a surface to be cleaned, in many cases the compositions will foam on the surface which allows the composition to remain in contact with the surface to be cleaned for an extended period of time. In one aspect of the invention, the cleaning composition is allowed to remain in contact with the surface without the application of an external force such as brush, cloth, sponge etc. . . to promote the separation of dirt and debris from the surface. The composition may remain in contact with the surface being cleaned for a period of time ranging from about 30 seconds to about 10 minutes or more and more preferably from about 2 to about 5 minutes or until the foam subsides. The composition may then be removed by applying water to the cleaning composition containing surface to flush the cleaning composition away from the surface. Physical methods such as brushes and rags may also be used to remove the cleaning compositions and associated removed dirt and debris. These cleaning steps can be repeated until the desired degree of cleaning is achieved.
Several different gutter cleaner formulations were prepared and tested. The formulations were applied to the surface of a dirty residential gutter. The formulation, test method and results are set forth in the tables below.
From the examples above, Formulation No. 17 exhibited the best overall cleaning perforance. In addition the formulation tests indicated that anionic surfactants were only marginally useful so compositions without an anionic surfactant are preferred.
As noted above, the hard surface-cleaner composition provided according to the invention can be desirably provided as a ready to use concentrate product in a manually operated spray dispensing container. Such a typical container is generally made of synthetic polymer plastic material such as polyethylene, polypropylene, polyvinyl chloride or the like and includes spray nozzle, a dip tube and associated pump dispensing parts and is thus ideally suited for use in a consumer spray-and-rinse application. In such an application, the consumer generally applies an effective amount of the cleaning composition using the proportioning device and within about five minutes thereafter, rinses the treated area with water. In certain applications, however, especially where undesirable stain deposits are heavy, the cleaning composition according to the invention may be left on the stained area until it has effectively loosened the stain deposits after which it may then be wiped off, rinsed off, or otherwise removed. For particularly heavy deposits of such undesired stains, multiple applications may also be used.
This application claims priority to U.S. provisional patent application no. 62/465519, filed on Mar. 1, 2017, the specification of which is incorporated herein by reference.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 62465519 | Mar 2017 | US |
