Friable foam textile cleaning stick

Claim 2

A textile cleaning stick having a tensile strength of less than about 1. lb comprising a friable open celled reticulated hydrophillic polyurethane foam matrix, wherein said matrix integrally incorporating (a) abrasive particles silane-coupled within said matrix and (b) an aqueous phase incorporating an effective amount of an organic solvent dispersed therein, so that said foam matrix yields oil and water absorbent shreds when it is rubbed across a textile surface.

Claim 3

The cleaning stick of claim 1 wherein said matrix incorporates about 50-90% of abrasive particles on a dry weight basis.

Claim 4

The cleaning stick of claim 1 wherein the organic solvent is dispersed in the aqueous phase by a nonionic surfactant.

Claim 5

The cleaning stick of claim 1 wherein said matrix further incorporates particles of an inorganic dispersing agent.

Claim 6

The cleaning stick of claim 1 wherein the aqueous phase further includes a silicone fluid.

Claim 7

The cleaning stick of claim 1 wherein the aqueous phase includes an odoriferous agent.

Claim 8

The cleaning stick of claim 1 wherein the aqueous phase further includes a protease.

Claim 9

An oil and water absorbent textile cleaning stick having a tensile strength of less than about 2.0 lbs prepared by a process comprising: (a) forming an aqueous reactant phase comprising about 40-70% by weight of abrasive solid particles, about 0.1-5% of the weight of the solid particles of a silane-coupling agent, about 0.1-10% of a nonionic surfactant, about 1-20% of an organic solvent and about 15-40% water; (b) mixing said aqueous reactant phase with a water-foamable prepolymer resin which contains at least 2 free isocyanate groups per resin molecule so that the final mole ratio of water to total free isocyanate groups is within the range of about 5-200:1, thereby converting said resin into a friable, open-celled, reticulated polyurethane foam body.

Claim 10

An oil and water absorbent textile cleaning stick having a tensile strength of less than about 2.0 lbs prepared by a process comprising: (a) forming an aqueous reactant phase comprising about 40-70% by weight of abrasive solid particles, about 0.1-5% of the weight of the solid particles of a silane-coupling agent, about 0.1-10% of a nonionic surfactant, about 1-20% of an organic solvent and about 15-40% water; (b) mixing said aqueous reactant phase with a water-foamable prepolymer resin which contains at least 2 free isocyanate groups per resin molecule so that the final mole ratio of water to total free isocyanate groups is within the range of about 5-200:1, thereby converting said resin into a friable, open-celled, reticulated polyurethane foam body.

Claim 11

The cleaning stick of claim 8 wherein the weight ratio of the aqueous phase to the prepolymer resin is about 7.5-15:1.

Claim 12

The cleaning stick of claim 8 wherein the aqueous reactant phase further incorporates about 1-10% by weight of a silicone fluid.

Claim 13

The cleaning stick of claim 8 wherein the aqueous reactant phase further comprises about 0.025-2% of fragrance.

Claim 14

The cleaning stick of claim 8 wherein the aqueous phase further comprises about 0.25-10% of an inorganic suspending agent.

Claim 15

The cleaning stick of claim 8 wherein the aqueous phase further comprises about 0.1-2% of an alkaline protease.

Claim 16

The cleaning stick of claim 8 wherein said aqueous reactant phase is formed by slurrying the solid particles with the water, adding the silane-coupling agent, stirring and heating the water phase to surface-coat the abrasive with the silane and adding the surfactant and the solvent.

Claim 17

The cleaning stick of claim 14 wherein the solid particles comprise silaceous mineral particles and said silane coupling agent is an aminoalkyl(tris-alkoxy)silane.

Claim 18

A textile cleaning stick having a tensile strength of less than about 1. lb prepared by a process comprising: (a) forming an aqueous reactant phase comprising about 20-30% by weight of water, about 0.5-5.0% of a nonionic surfactant, about 1-10% by weight of a polydimethylsiloxane silicone fluid, about 5-15% of an organic solvent, about 45-60% of abrasive mineral particles, about 0.1-5% by weight of the mineral particles of a silane-coupling agent and about 0.5-2% of an inorganic suspending agent; (b) mixing said aqueous reactant phase with a water-foamable prepolymer resin in a weight ratio of aqueous phase to prepolymer of about 7.5-15:1, said prepolymer resin comprising a toluene diisocyanate-capped polyalkylenoxy ether comprising about 1.3-2.5 mEq/g of isocyanate groups, so as to convert such resin into a hydrophilic, open-celled reticulated, friable polyurethane foam body.

Claim 19

A textile cleaning stick having a tensile strength of less than about 1. lb prepared by a process comprising: (a) forming an aqueous reactant phase comprising about 20-30% by weight of water, about 0.5-5.0% of a nonionic surfactant, about 1-10% by weight of a polydimethylsiloxane silicone fluid, about 5-15% of an organic solvent, about 45-60% of abrasive mineral particles, about 0.1-5% by weight of the mineral particles of a silane-coupling agent and about 0.5-2% of an inorganic suspending agent; (b) mixing said aqueous reactant phase with a water-foamable prepolymer resin in a weight ratio of aqueous phase to prepolymer of about 7.5-15:1, said prepolymer resin comprising a toluene diisocyanate-capped polyalkylenoxy ether comprising about 1.3-2.5 mEq/g of isocyanate groups, so as to convert such resin into a hydrophilic, open-celled reticulated, friable polyurethane foam body.

Claim 20

The cleaning stick of claim 16 wherein the nonionic surfactant comprises the condensation product of ethylene oxide with a polyoxypropylene ether having a molecular weight of about 1500-3000.

Claim 21

The cleaning stick of claim 16 wherein the nonionic surfactant comprises the condensation product of about 3-50 moles of ethylene oxide with a C 11 -C 15 fatty alcohol.

Claim 22

The cleaning stick of claim 16 wherein the weight range of aqueous phase to prepolymer resin is about 10-15:1.

Claim 23

The cleaning stick of claim 16 wherein the organic solvent comprises mineral spirits or a low molecular weight mineral oil.