Stable liquid detergent compositions

Claim 1

A stable liquid detergent composition comprising: (a) from about 5% to about 25% of an ethoxylated alcohol or ethoxylated alkyl phenol nonionic surfactant of the formula: R(C.sub.2 H.sub.4 O).sub.n OH wherein R is selected from the group consisting of aliphatic hydrocarbyl radicals containing from about 8 to about 18 carbon atoms, alkyl phenyl radicals wherein the alkyl group contains from about 8 to about 15 carbon atoms and mixtures thereof wherein n is from about 3 to about 12; (b) from about 2% to about 15% of an amine oxide surfactant having the formula ##STR9## wherein R 1 is an alkyl, 2-hydroxyalkyl, 3-hydroxyalkyl, or 3-alkoxy-2-hydroxypropyl radical in which the alkyl and alkoxy contain from about 8 to about 18 carbon atoms, R 2 and R 3 are methyl, ethyl, propyl, isopropyl, 2-hydroxy ethyl, 2-hydroxypropyl, or 3-hydroxypropyl and n is from 0 to about 10; (c) from about 5% to about 25% of a water-soluble detergency builder capable of sequestering calcium and magnesium ions in water solution selected from the group consisting of water-soluble polycarboxylates, polyacetates, phosphonates, pyrophosphates and mixtures thereof; (d) from about 5% to about 25% of a hydrophobic emulsifier having an HLB value below about 7; and (e) from about 20% to about 83% water, said liquid detergent composition being a stable water-in-oil emulsion and having a pH of from about 8 to about 13.