Title of Invention

"A REUSABLE WIPING AND SCRUBBING ARTICLE AND A PROCESS FOR ITS PREPARATION"

Abstract A reusable wiping and scrubbing article with efficient dust pickup and dislodging capability comprising a water absorbent woven fabric (1) and a non- woven substrate (2) having a texture layer on one of its surfaces for abrasive effect. Fig.l
Full Text The present relates to a reusable wiping and scrubbing article and a process for its preparation.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention generally relates to scrubbing materials, more specifically
to scrubbing article with stress on reusable floor wipes.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Usage of floor wipe varies from country to country depending on the food habits, needs of cleaning, type of floor, grime and dirt level on the floor and cleaning methods. In tropical countries like India, carpets are rarely used and grime accumulation is a common occurrence. Also, the food spills containing oils and spices lead to stains that are hard to remove by normal floor mops. The type of floor varies from cement, natural stone tiles, granite, mosaic, marble, vinyl linoleum to vitrified tiles. The process of floor cleaning is manual and involves dipping the wipe in plain water or disinfectant liquid, wringing and draining the excess water and then wiping the surface. Non-woven (natural or synthetic) fabric has been known to be used as a cost effective wiping and scrubbing article but they are not resilient enough to withstand this cycle.
US patent No. 5,213,588 discloses the use of non-woven natural or synthetic material having printed scrubbing beads for household cleaning operations. US patent publication number 2003/0124935 describes use of woven or non-woven synthetic fabric as scrubbing material.
US patent No. 5,310,590 substantially discloses use of non-woven fibre batt made of cellulosic pulp in scrubbing articles.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a reusable wiping and scrubbing article with efficient dust pickup and dislodging capability comprising a woven fabric capable of absorbing liquid bonded to a non-woven substrate having a texture layer on one of its surface for abrasive effect. The embodiment can be used with or without liquid (wet or dry applications). Accordingly, a method to realise this invention is also provided.
By varying the thread density in the warp and count of weft thread, a water absorbent fabric having a gsm (grams per square metre) in the range of 150 -400 (as determined by following test protocol IS 1964 : 1970) may be created which is inexpensive to produce without compromising its functionality. In some preferred embodiments, the absorbent fabric has a waffle (alternate raised and lower portions) structure. In some preferred embodiments, the wipe is fully biodegradable and in such embodiments, the absorbent fabric may comprise a blend of cellulosic and regenerated cellulosic fibres.
The Warp count and Weft Count can be varied from 4Ne to 60Ne, in either single or plied form (as determined by following test protocol IS 3442 : 1980). In one embodiment, the tensile strength of the water absorbent fabric thus obtained for warp will be in the range of 25 - 90 Kgs with elongation of 6 - 20 % and for weft will be in the range of 5 - 40 Kgs with elongation of 6 - 25 % ( as determined by following test protocol IS 1969 : 1985). This absorbent fabric can withstand around 7500 - 40000 numbers of movement of Martindle Abrasion Test before rupture of two or more threads. In one embodiment, the bursting strength of the water absorbent fabric will be in the range of the of 125 - 250 psi (as determined by following test protocol IS 1966 : 1975) with average distension in the range of 3-12 mm.
In this embodiment, the water absorbent fabric has a warp blend of 100% cotton and weft blend of 100% viscose and the other physical characteristics described in this paragraph. The said fabric has a warp crimp of 8 - 30% (as determined by following test protocol IS 3442 : 1980) and weft crimp of 5 - 25% (as determined by following test protocol IS 3442 : 1980). The woven fabric has 20 - 72 Ends/inch and 16-72 Picks/inch (as determined by following test protocol IS 1963 : 1981). The woven fabric has a waffle structure which allows room for dirt and dust to accumulate as you clean, thus preventing surfaces from getting scratched by the dirt particles. The design of the fabric permits the wipe to hold an optimum quantity of water and leave minimum water behind while wiping the surface where "optimum" implies the preferred or desired value whereas
"minimum" implies the lesser value on the scale. The water absorption capacity of the embodiment is desirably in the range of 200 - 400% of its original weight whereas water retention percentage preferably ranges from 70 - 200%. The dust pick up ability of the embodiment is generally in the range of 80-95%. The fabric usually requires 4-6 dips to completely dislodge the dirt picked up by the wipe (as determined by following test protocol based on AATCC stain release scale: cement / micro dust mixed with water is spread evenly on a glass surface and the wipe is used to clean the surface. The dirty wipe is dipped in clean water 3 times and the colour of the water is observed in comparison to AATCC soil release grade scales).
The selection of this particular blend leads to an ever-soft feel of the wipe at every stage of its usage as it does not stiffen even after drying. This particular blend has a warp shrinkage of 8% and weft shrinkage of 13% (as determined by following test protocol IS 1299 : 1984 HCC/TM-98).
The spunlace non-woven substrate having a gsm (grams per square metre) in the range of 75 - 350 has a texture layer of 15 - 80 gsm (grams per square metre) printed on its one side which is basically a non-crosslinked, resin based material forming a matrix of 100 - 200 dots per square inch and forms an abrasive layer.
The non-woven substrate is suitably bonded to the water absorbent fabric which leads to longer life of the non-woven substrate.
In the preferred embodiment, an overall fabric flexural rigidity of 25.76 is achieved which gives it good wringability (as determined by following test protocol IS 6490 : 1971). The overall weight loss during wiping is 9.17% (as determined by following test protocol IS 12673 : 1989).
The overall fabric blend of this particular embodiment is 73.38% cotton and 26.62% viscose. The average thickness of this particular embodiment is 1.07mm (as determined by following test protocol IS 7702 : 1975). The time required to dry the fabric at room temperature is 150 minutes. Time required to dry the floor is 0.36 minutes as the percentage water left behind by the wipe is 7.73. The wipe does not give off odour despite its use with any disinfectant / soap / water (as determined by following test protocol IS 1389 : 1984).
Another aspect of the invention is the process for preparing a reusable wiping and scrubbing article comprising the steps:
a) preparing a waffle structured water absorbent fabric out of a blend of cellulosic and regenerated cellulosic fibers
b) wet-processing the prepared fabric to give the desired water absorption capability.
c) incorporating an abrasive layer on the surface of a non-woven substrate, preferably using a resin based material (e.g thermoplastic resin / adhesive based resin / heat sensitive resin) to provide a scrubbing surface and
d) bonding the non-woven substrate to the woven fabric by a suitable method. The various steps are carried out in known manners.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE ACCOMPANYING DRAWING
The figure 1 illustrates a perspective schematic view of the invention.
The woven absorbent fabric is denoted by 1. The non-woven substrate is denoted by 2 where the dots 3 represent the resin based material printed on it to achieve the abrasive effect. The non-woven substrate 2 is bonded to the woven absorbent fabric 1 by a suitable method.
Various modifications and alterations of this invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of this invention and it should be understood that this invention is not unduly limited to the illustrative embodiment set forth herein.















We Claim
1. A reusable wiping and scrubbing article with efficient dust pickup and dislodging
capability comprising a water absorbent woven fabric (1) and a non- woven substrate (2)
having a texture layer on one of its surfaces for abrasive effect, wherein the woven fabric
(1) comprises a blend of cellulosic and regenerated cellulosic fibres.
2. The article as claimed in claim 1 wherein the woven fabric (1) has gsm in the range of
150-400.
3. The article as claimed in claim 1 wherein the blend of cellulosic & regenerated cellulosic
fibers of woven fabric (1) are woven in waffle structure.
4. The article as claimed in claim 2 wherein, the woven fabric (1) has 20-72 Endslinch and
about 16 - 72 Picksfinch.
5. The article as claimed in claim 2 wherein, the woven fabric (1) comprises of an warp
blend of 100% cotton and weft blend of 100% viscose.
6. The article as claimed in claim 5 wherein, the woven fabric (1) has a warp crimp of
8- 30 % and weft crimp of 5 -25 %.
7. The article as claimed in claim 6 wherein, the non-woven substrate (2) has a gsm in the
range of 75-350.
8. The article as claimed in claim 6 wherein, the texture layer on the non-woven substrate
(2) has a gsm in the range of 20-50.
9. The article as claimed in claim 8 wherein, the texture is a resin forming a matrix of 100-
200 dots per square inch.
10. The article as claimed in claim 1 wherein, the non-woven substrate (2) with its abrasive
surface is bonded to the absorbent fabric.
11. A process for preparing a reusable wiping and scrubbing article as claimed in preceding
claims comprising:
a) preparing a woven fabric (1)out of a blend of cellulosic and regenerated cellu~osic
fibers;
b) wet-processing the prepared fabric to give the desired water absorption capability;
c) incorporating an abrasive layer on non-woven substrate (2) preferably, using a resin
based material to provide a scrubbing surface; and
d) bonding the non-woven substrate (2) to the woven fabric (1).

Documents:

2309-DEL-2005-Abstract-(16-11-2010).pdf

2309-del-2005-abstract.pdf

2309-DEL-2005-Claims-(16-11-2010).pdf

2309-del-2005-Claims-(30-07-2013).pdf

2309-del-2005-claims.pdf

2309-del-2005-Correspondance Others-(07-05-2013).pdf

2309-del-2005-Correspondence-Others-(08-07-2013).pdf

2309-DEL-2005-Correspondence-Others-(16-11-2010).pdf

2309-del-2005-Correspondence-Others-(30-07-2013).pdf

2309-del-2005-correspondence-others.pdf

2309-del-2005-correspondence-po.pdf

2309-DEL-2005-Description (Complete)-(16-11-2010).pdf

2309-del-2005-description (complete).pdf

2309-del-2005-drawings.pdf

2309-DEL-2005-Form-1-(16-11-2010).pdf

2309-del-2005-form-1.pdf

2309-del-2005-form-18.pdf

2309-DEL-2005-Form-2-(16-11-2010).pdf

2309-del-2005-form-2.pdf

2309-del-2005-form-3.pdf

2309-DEL-2005-Form-5-(16-11-2010).pdf

2309-del-2005-form-5.pdf

2309-del-2005-GPA-(08-07-2013).pdf

2309-del-2005-gpa.pdf

2309-del-2005-petition-138.pdf

2309-DELNP-2005-Abstract-(12-05-2010).pdf

2309-DELNP-2005-Claims-(12-05-2010).pdf

2309-DELNP-2005-Correspondence-Others-(12-05-2010).pdf

2309-DELNP-2005-Description (Complete)-(12-05-2010).pdf

2309-DELNP-2005-Form-1-(12-05-2010).pdf

2309-DELNP-2005-Form-2-(12-05-2010).pdf

2309-DELNP-2005-GPA-(12-05-2010).pdf


Patent Number 259351
Indian Patent Application Number 2309/DEL/2005
PG Journal Number 11/2014
Publication Date 14-Mar-2014
Grant Date 10-Mar-2014
Date of Filing 29-Aug-2005
Name of Patentee 3M INNOVATIVE PROPERTIES COMPANY
Applicant Address 3M CENTER, ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA, USA.
Inventors:
# Inventor's Name Inventor's Address
1 SHRIDHAR B. SHINDE 3M INDIA LTD., INNOVATION CENTER, PLOT NO. 48-51, ELECTRONIC CITY, HOSUR ROAD, BANGALORE-560100, KARNATAKA, INIDA.
2 YALWAR B. MRITHYUNJAYA 3M INDIA LTD., INNOVATION CENTER, PLOT NO. 48-51, ELECTRONIC CITY, HOSUR ROAD, BANGALORE-560100, KARNATAKA, INIDA.
PCT International Classification Number B01D 53/02
PCT International Application Number N/A
PCT International Filing date
PCT Conventions:
# PCT Application Number Date of Convention Priority Country
1 NA