Liquid detergent compositions comprising mixtures of alkyl polyglycol ethers and quaternary ammonium fabric softening agents

Claim 1

A liquid detergent having an optimum combination of washing ability, fabric softening action, and sudsing behavior, said liquid detergent comprising: (a) from about 5 to 18% by weight of a mixture of alkyl polyglycol ethers of the formula ##STR3## wherein R 1 represents a linear alkyl radical; R 2 , in from about 20 to 75% of said alkyl polyglycol ethers, represents a C 1 to C 4 alkyl group and, in from 25 to 80% of said alkyl polyglycol ethers, represents a hydrogen atom, the total number of carbon atoms in R 1 and R 2 together being from about 11 to 15; and wherein n represents an average value of from about 5 to 9, n being a value such that the ethylene oxide portion of the alkyl polyglycol ether represents from about 50 to 65% by weight, based on the total weight of the alkyl polyglycol ether; (b) from about 5 to 18% by weight of a mixture of alkyl polyglycol ethers of Formula I, wherein R 1 represents a linear alkyl group; R 2 is a hydrogen atom or, in from about 20 to 75% of said alkyl polyglycol ethers, represents a C 1 to C 4 alkyl group and, in from about 25 to 80% of said alkyl polyglycol ethers, represents a hydrogen atom, the total number of carbon atoms in R 1 and R 2 together being from about 6 to 10; and wherein n represents an average value of from about 3 to 8, n being of such a value that the ethylene oxide portion of the alkyl polyglycol ether represents from about 55 to 70% by weight, based on the total weight of the alkyl polyglycol ether, the quantitative ratio of (a) to (b) being from about 2:1 to 1:2; and (c) from about 2.5 to 10% by weight of a fabric-softening quaternary ammonium salt.