Water soluble resinous compositions and process of preparing same

Claim 1

A PROCESS FOR PREPARING A NON-THERMOSETTING PERMANENTLY WATER-SOLUBLE RESINOUS PRODUCT WHICH COMPRISES REACTING AS TE ESSENTAL REACTANTS (1) FORMALDEHYDE, (2) MELAMINE AND (3) AN ALKALI METAL SALT OF SULFUROUS ACID UNTIL CONDENSATION OCCURS TO FORM RESINOUS PRODUCTS CONTAINING SULFONATE GROUPS, FURTHER POLYMERIZING SAID RESINOUS PRODUCT BY DILUTING THE REACTION MIXTURE TO BETWEEN ABOUT 15% AND ABOUT 25% SOLIDS, ADJUSTING THE PH TO WITHIN THE RANGE OF BETWEEN ABOUT 1.5 AND ABOUT 3.7 AND HEATING AT A TERMPERATURE WITHIN THE RANGE OF ABOUT 40*C. AND ABOUT 55*C. NOT BEYOND THE FORMATION OF A SOFT GEL AT SAID PH BUT AT LEAST UNTIL THE NEUTRALIZED SOLUTION POSSESSES A MINIMUM VISCOSITY OF 50 CENTIPOISES WHEN MEASURED AS A 20% SOLID AT 25*C., THE FORMALDEHYDE BEING PRESENT IN AN AMOUNT BETWEN ABOUT 1.75 AND ABOUT 6 MOLS PER MOL OF MELAMINE AND THE ALKALI METAL SALT BEING PRESENT IN AN AMOUNT TO YIELD BETWEEN ABOUT 0.75 AND ABOUT 2.0 MOLS OF BISULFITE PER MOL OF MELAMINE.