Laundry soil and stain remover in applicator stick form

Claim 1

In a laundry soil and stain remover composition in applicator stick form for application to fabric as an aid in laundering, said composition establishing a balance and functional optimization of the values of interrelated parameters including pH, drop point and hardness, and including a laundry enzyme operable digestively to attack and to eliminate grease and food-derived stains from fabrics, a surfactant, a bodying agent constituting a gelling carrier vehicle for said enzyme and said surfactant, said enzyme and said surfactant being intimately and uniformly dispersed throughout said carrier to provide a physically self-sustaining solid for direct positive application and material transfer to selectable zones of fabrics to be treated, prior to subjecting the fabrics to a laundering cycle, said composition having a pH in the range of about 9.3 to about 9.8, having a dropping point in the range of from about 100 degrees F. to about 140 degrees F., and melting in the range of 40 degrees C. (104 degrees F.) to 80 degrees C. (176 degrees F.) and having a hardness in the range of 3 mm to 30 mm measured using an ASTM standard needle with no weight added, and said composition being effective to enhance likelihood of effectively removing stains present in the fabrics, the improvement comprising a chemical agent incorporated into said stain removing composition for maintaining the dropping point of said composition in said 100° F. to 140° F. range, holding the pH in a range of said about 9.3 to about 9.8 to ensure effective enzyme activity, maintaining the hardness of said composition, in said 3-30 mm range, and the melting range from 40°-80° C., said chemical agent comprising a salt in a concentration of from about 1% to about 4% by weight in said composition, said salt being other than said surfactant and other than said bodying agent, and including a member selected from the group consisting of sulfate, carbonate, phosphate, bromide, formate, acetate, tartrate, borate, metaborate, and mixtures thereof as anions, and a member selected from the group consisting of sodium, potassium, calcium, lithium, magnesium, and aluminum, and mixtures thereof as cations.