MULTI-LAYER BIRD REPELLANT COATING COMPOSITION

Abstract: A multi-layer bird repellant coating for a substrate including (i) at least one bird repellant bead or strip formed from a bird repellant gel composition including: a) approximately 75 to 98% by weight based on the total weight of the composition of at least one butene polymer or copolymer; b) approximately 1 to 7% by weight based on the total weight of the composition of a clay-based thickening agent; and c) approximately 1 to 3% by weight based on the total weight of the composition of a polar organic swelling agent; said bird repellant bear or strip having sufficient tackiness to repel birds but not to substantially retard the birds and with sufficient viscosity to minimize the flattening of bead or strip, (ii) a protective coating layer, on said bird repellant bead or strip, formed from a) an effective amount of a polymeric component, which polymeric component includes at least one vinyl aromatic polymer or copolymer, b) an effective amount of a solvent or emulsifier for the polymeric component; the protective coating layer being sufficiently brittle that the surface thereof may be broken in use, on contact with a bird.

Description: The present invention relates to a bird repellant coating for a substrate. In the prior art bird repellant coatings are formed with a tacky consistency which is coated on at least a part of a surface to be protected. Contact with the tacky coating repels the birds. However, bird repellant compositions known in the prior art have been deficient in a number of aspects. Whilst the coating should have a tacky consistency, if it is too tacky it will pick up dust, leaves and the like quickly and be rendered inefficient very quickly. Moreover, birds may become stuck on the surface. In applicant's Australian Patent Application Number 27487/84 there was described a bird repellant composition including a butene polymer or copolymer component and a thickening agent therefor. This bird repellant composition which could be dispensed in a gel or bead form from a cartridge provided some improvement over the prior art. However, difficulties remained as the bird repellant composition was still susceptible to being rendered ineffective by pick-up of dust, leaves, etc. Moreover, the bird repellant composition was susceptible to darkening in colour. Moreover, the polybutene based bird repellant composition had a tendency to seep into certain porous surfaces to be protected. This had the dual disadvantages that it was wasteful and that the bird repellant composition was extremely difficult to remove from the surface when its useful life had ended. Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to overcome, or at least alleviate, one or more of the difficulties related to the prior art. Accordingly, in a first aspect, the present invention provides a multi-layer bird repellant coating for a substrate including (i) at least one bird repellant bead or strip formed from a bird repellant gel composition including: a) approximately 75 to 98% by weight based on the total weight of the composition of at least one butene polymer or copolymer; b) approximately 1 to 7% by weight based on the total weight of the composition of a clay-based thickening agent; and c) approximately 1 to 3% by weight based on the total weight of the composition of a polar organic swelling agent; said bird repellant bead or strip having sufficient tackiness to repel birds but not to substantially retard the birds and with sufficient viscosity to minimize the flattening of bead or strip, (ii) a protective coating layer, on said bird repellant bead or strip, formed from a) an effective amount of a polymeric component, which polymeric component includes at least one vinyl aromatic polymer or copolymer, b) an effective amount of a solvent or emulsifier for the polymeric component; the protective coating layer being sufficiently brittle that the surface thereof may be broken, in use, on contact with a bird. The at least one bird repellant bead or strip may be applied to the substrate. The bird repellant layer (i) and protective coating layer (ii) may be present in any suitable relative amounts. The weight ratio of bird repellant layer (i) to protective coating layer (ii) may range from approximately 40:1 to approximately 15:1 preferably 19:1. The polymeric component (a) from the bird repellant layer (i) is present in amounts of from approximately 75 to 98% by weight of the bird repellant composition. The polymeric component may be present in amounts of from approximately 92.5% to 97.5% by weight of total composition, preferably 93% by weight. The polymeric component includes at least one butene polymer or copolymer. The at least one butene polymer may comprise a major amount of the polymeric composition. In a preferred form the at least one butene polymer may comprise substantially all the polymeric component. The polymeric component may further include other polymers or copolymers. The polymers may be selected to adjust the tackiness or viscosity as desired. The polymers may prefrablyt be present in minor amounts. Preferably the butene polymer component comprises approximately 75% to 100% by weight of the polymeric component. The polymers may be selected from addition polymers, e.g. rubbery polymers such as isobutene polymers and acrylic-butene copolymers. The polymeric component may include preferably a high molecular weight butene polymer component and a low molecular weight butene polymer. The components may be in the form of a blend. The high molecular weight butene polymer and low molecular weight butene polymer may be present in any suitable relative amounts which will allow for the creation of the desired degree of tackiness in order to repel various birds but with a high enough viscosity to minimise the flattening of the gel over an extended period. It will be understood that as the gel flattens the contamination thereof will increase and the efficiency of the composition as a repellant will accordingly decrease. The at least one butene polymer may be a polybutene. The polybutene may be of the type sold under the trade designation HYVIS. These are synthetic hydrocarbon polymers manufactured by polymerisation of olefins comprising isobutene. The polymers are long chain hydrophobic molecules with methyl group side chains. The polybutene sold under the designation HYVIS 10 and available from B.P. Trading Ltd. is particularly preferred as the low molecular weight component. HYVIS 10 has a molecular weight MW of approximately 900 to 1000. The polybutene polymer sold under the trade designation HYVIS 30 may be used as the high molecular weight component. HYVIS 30 has a molecular weight MW of approximately 1300 to 1500. Alternative polybutene which may be used include those sold under the trade designation Indopal and available from Amoco Chemicals, U.S.A. The low molecular weight and high molecular weight butene polymers may be present in a weight ratio of approximately 1:1. As an alternative as will be discussed below, the bird repellant composition may be manufactured utilising the low molecular weight polymer only. If desired, the high molecular weight polymer component may be added at the end of the manufacturing process. The clay-based thickening agent (b) of the bird repellant composition may be a hydrophobic thickening agent. An organophilic clay may be used. A thickening agent of the type sold under the trade designation TIXOGEL may be used. The TIXOGEL VP thickening agent available from United Catalysts Inc. is particularly preferred. The TIXOGEL is a clay based material containing montmorillinite and aluminium hydrosilicate together with suborganic radicals. The clay base material is solubilised in an organic medium. Other clay-based thickening agents which have been found to be suitable include those sold under the trade designations Claytone 34 and available from Kaolin Australia Sales Pty, Ltd. Melbourne, Austrailia; Bentone 34 available from Hardie Trading Pty.Ltd., Sydney, Australia; and Godaclay 34 available from Goda Chemical Group Pty.Ltd., Melbourne, Australia; Veegum, available from Vanderbilt Minerals, Murray, Kentucky, U.S.A. The thickening agent may be present in a suitable amount which will provide the bird repellant composition with the requisite viscosity for use as a gel or bead composition. The thickening agent may be present in amounts of from 2 to 7% by weight, preferably 2.5 to 5% by weight, based on the weight of the total bird repellant composition. The thickening agent may be present in an amount of approximately 4 to 5% by weight based on the total amount of butene polymer. The polar organic swelling agent (c) may be selected from alcohols and ketones. The swelling agent may be selected from methanol, acetone and methylethyl ketone and mixtures thereof. The swelling agent may be present in amounts of from 30 to 50% by weight based on the total weight of thickener and swelling agent. The swelling agent may be present in amounts of approximately 40% by weight based on the total amount of thickening agent in the bird repellant composition. The swelling agent may be present in amounts of from approximately 1 to 3%, preferably 2% by weight based on the weight of the total bird repellant composition. A particularly preferred bird repellant composition according to the present invention includes a high molecular weight butene polymer and a low molecular weight butene polymer in approximately equal amounts. The total butene polymer content of the composition comprises 93% of the bird repellant composition. The other inert ingredients in the composition comprise the remaining 7% of the bird repellant composition. The bird repellant composition according to the present invention may further include other compounding ingredients. For example pesticides, fillers, extenders, colorants and other compounding ingredients may be included. The polymeric component (a) of the protective coating layer (ii) may be selected to provide a protective coating layer which is resistant to contamination with dust, leaves and the like. The polymeric component (a) may be selected to be sufficiently brittle so that the surface of the protective coating layer will be broken on contact with a bird. It will be understood from the above that the protective coating layer may be a very thin layer. A layer of approximately 100 micron to approximately 1/2 millimetre may be used. The polymeric component (a) of the protective coating composition (ii) may be present in a minor amount in the protective coating composition. The polymeric component may be present in amounts from approximately 2 to 40% weight per volume based on the volume of emulsifier or solvent in the protective coating composition. Preferably the polymeric component is present in amounts of from approximately 2 to 20 grams per 100 millilitres of solvent or emulsifier. The polymeric component may include at least one vinyl aromatic polymer or copolymer. The at least one vinyl aromatic polymer may comprise a major amount of the polymeric component of the protective coating composition. The polymeric component should be selected to be compatible with the polybutene polymer of the bird repellant gel composition. For this reason acrylic polymers such as polymethyl methacrylate are not suitable for use in the protective coating layer according to the present invention. The polymeric component should provide a protective coating layer which is sufficiently brittle to be broken by contact with a bird or other animal. The vinyl aromatic polymer or copolymer may be selected from those formed from strene monomers, vinyl toluene monomers and derivatives thereof. Minor amounts of other addition monomers may be used. Minor amounts of acrylic and methacrylic monomers may be included. A styrene polymer or copolymer is preferred. A crystalline styrene polymer is preferred. A styrene polymer having a weight average molecular weight of the order of approximately 200,000 to 500,000 may be used. A styrene polymer of the type sold under the trade designation LUSTREX HF555, HH101A or HH103 have been found to be suitable. The LUSTREX polymers are available from Monsanto Chemicals (Melbourne). The solvents which may be used may be selected from dichloromethane, toluene, ethylacetate, tetrahydrofuran, cyclohexane, benzene, dioxane, methylethylketone, butyl acetate and lower chlorinated aliphatic hydrocarbons. The solvent may be selected from those which do not dissolve the polybutene polymer of the bird repellant gel composition. The solvents may be selected to provide a reasonable drying time. The solvents dichloromethane and ethylacetate are preferred. The solvents may be present in amounts of from approximately 60 to 98% volume to volume based on the total volume of the protective coating composition. In a preferred aspect of the present invention the multi-layer bird repellant coating further includes (iii) a primer coating on the substrate formed from a primer coating composition including (a) an effective amount of a primer component which primer component includes at least one vinyl aromatic polymer, and (b) an effective amount of a solvent or emulsifier for the polymeric coating cmposition. The primer coating composition may be the same as,or similar to, the protective coating composition of the bird repellant multi-layer coating. In a further aspect of the present invention there is provided a multi-layer bird repellant coating kit including (a) a bird repellant gel composition as described above in a suitable container, and (b) a protective coating composition as described above in a suitable container. The bird repellant gel composition (a) may be provided in a cartridge form for delivery in the form of a bead onto the substrate to be coated. The protective coating layer composition (b) may be provided in any suitable form. Any suitable vessel may be used, such as a tin or can. Alternatively, the protective coating layer composition may be provided in an aerosol form. The bird repellant multi-layer coating kit may further include (c) a primer coating layer composition as described above in a suitable container. The primer coating layer composition may be provided in a similar form to the protective coating layer composition. In a still further aspect of the present invention there is provided a method for preparing a bird repellant multi-layer coating on a substrate which method includes (i) providing a substrate, and (ii) coating at least a portion of the substrate, in turn, with (a) at least one bird repellant bead or strip formed from a bird repellant gel composition as described above, and (b) a protective coating layer formed from a protective coating composition as described above. The method of preparing a bird repellant multi-layer coating may further include (iii) drying the at least one repellant bead or strip, prior to coating with the protective coating layer. It will be understood that, depending on weather conditions, the drying step may require the bead or strip to remain uncoated for approximately 1 to 24 hours. The method of preparing a bird repellant multi-layer coating according to the present invention may further include the preliminary step of (1a) coating the substrate with a primer coating layer formed from a primer coating composition as described above. The present invention will now be more fully described with reference to the accompanying example. It should be understood, however, that the description following is illustrative only and should not be taken in any way as a restriction on the generality of the invention described above. EXAMPLE 1 One litre of dichloromethane was placed in a suitable mixing vat, 20 grams of polystyrene in pellet form was added slowly to the solvent and stirring continued until all of the styrene had dissolved. Multi-Layer Coating The bird repellant gel composition as described above was prepared in a gel as described in Australian Patent Application Number 27487/84 for utilisation in a cartridge delivery form. A bead of the bird repellant gel was laid down upon a section of a substrate, in this case the roof of a building. The protective coating composition prepared as described above was placed in a reservoir of an industrial spary gun. The protective coating layer was then sprayed over the surface of the bird repellant gel. A surface coating of approximately 0.5 millimetre thick of the polystyrene was thus formed. A solid coating formed in approximately one minute. The coating took approximately two hours to dry fully. The protected bird repellant gel was then monitored for three days in which time it was noted that birds landing on the surface easily broke through the protective layer and were repelled by the tackiness of the bird repellant gel. In areas where there had not been contact with birds, deterioration due to build-up of dust, leaves and the like upon the surface of the bead was substantially diminished. EXAMPLE 2 One litre of dichloromethane was placed in a suitable mixing vat, 20 grams of polystyrene in pellet form was added slowly to the solvent and stirring continued until all of the styrene had dissolved. The composition so formed was used both as the primer coating composition and protective coating composition. The primer coating composition was placed in a reservoir of an industrial spray gun. A substrate, in this case the roof of a building was then coated in strips with the primer coating composition. The bird repellant composition as described above was prepared in a gel for utilisation in a cartridge delivery form. A bead of the bird repellant gel was laid down upon a section of the substrate. The gel was permitted to dry for approximately 1 1/2 hours. The protective coating composition prepared as described above was placed in a reservoir of an industrial spray gun. The protective coating layer was then sprayed over the surface of the bird repellant gel. A surface coating of approximately 0.5 millimetre thick of the polystyrene was thus formed. The coating took approximately two hours to dry fully. The protected bird repellant gel was then monitored for three days in which time it was noted that birds landing on the surface easily broke through the protective layer and were epelled by the tackiness of the bird repellant gel. In areas where there had not been contact with birds, deterioration due to build-up of dust, leaves and the like on the surface of the bead was substantially diminished. At the end of five days attempts were made to remove the bird repellant bead as prepared in Example 1 and Example 2. The bead was easily removed from the sample bearing the primer coating layer. However, the bead was extremely difficult to remove from the substrate which did not bear the primer layer. EXAMPLE 3 Two sintered glass crucibles (porosity number 1) were coated with the bird repellant coating prepared according to Example 1 above where one crucible was precoated with a primer coating composition prepared according to Example 2 above (see Figures 1 and 2). Figure 1 is a side view of a sintered glass crucible with a bird repellant coating according to the present invention applied to its upper surface. Figure 2 is a bottom view of two sintered glass crucibles coated as in Figure 1. The sintered glass crucible on the left does not have an initial protective coating layer and shows considerable darkening where the bird repellent gel has come through. A vacuum was applied to the surface away from the bird repellant gel to both crucibles. The coating proved to be an effective barrier to the bird repellant gel and did not allow it to pass through the porous surface even under a strong vacuum (10-15mmHg). It can be concluded that the surface coating does not allow the bird repellant gel to be absorbed into porous materials.

Claims: A multi-layer bird repellant coating for a substrate including (i) at least one bird repellant bead or strip formed from a bird repellant gel composition including: a) approximately 75 to 98% by weight based on the total weight of the composition of at least one butene polymer or copolymer; b) approximately 1 to 7% by weight based on the total weight of the composition of a clay-based thickening agent; and c) approximately 1 to 3% by weight based on the total weight of the composition of a polar organic swelling agent; said bird repellant bead or strip having sufficient tackiness to repel birds but not to substantially retard the birds and with sufficient viscosity to minimize the flattening of bead or strip, (ii) a protective coating layer, on said bird repellant bead or strip, formed from a) an effective amount of a polymeric component, which polymeric component includes at least one vinyl aromatic polymer or copolymer, b) an effective amount of a solvent or emulsifier for the polymeric component; the protective coating layer being sufficiently brittle that the surface thereof may be broken, in use, on contact with a bird. A multi-layer bird repellant coating according to claim 1 wherein the butene polymer component of the bird repellant gel composition is present in an amount of from 92 to 97% by weight based on the total weight of the composition and includes a high molecular weight polybutene having a molecular weight of 1300 to 1500 and a low molecular weight polybutene having a molecular weight of 900 to 1,000. A multi-layer bird repellant coating according to claim 2 wherein the clay-based thickening agent of the bird repellant gel component is a hydrophobic, organophilic clay containing montmorillonite and aluminium hydrosilicate together with suborganic radicals. A multi-layer bird repellant coating according to claim 3 wherein the swelling agent of the bird repellant gel component is selected from the group consisting of methanol, acetone, methylethyl ketone and mixtures thereof. A multi-layer repellant coating according to claim 1 wherein the polymeric component (ii) of the protective coating composition is present in an amount of approximately 2 to 40% weight per volume based on the volume of emulsifier or solvent in the protective coating composition. A multi-layer bird repellant coating according to claim 5 wherein the protective coating composition includes a styrene polymer or copolymer and a soluent selected from dichloromethane, toluene, ethylacetate, tetrahydrofuran, cyclohexane, benzene, dioxane, methylethylketone, butyl acetate and lower chlorinated aliphatic hydrocarbons. A multi-layer bird repellant coating according to claim 1 further including (iii) a primer coating, below the at least one bird repellant bead or strip (i), formed from a primer coating composition including a) an effective amount of a primer component which primer component includes at least one vinyl aromatic polymer, and b) an effective solvent or emulsifier for the polymeric coating composition, A multi-layer bird repellant coating kit including (a) a bird repellant gel composition comprising i) approximately 75 to 98% by weight based on the total weight of the composition of at least one butene polymer or copolymer; ii) approximately 1 to 7% by weight based on the total weight of the composition of a clay-based thickening agent; and iii) approximately 1 to 3% by weight based on the total weight of the composition of a polar organic swelling agent; said bird repellant bead or strip having sufficient tackiness to repel birds but not to substantially retard the birds and with sufficient viscosity to minimize the flattening of bead or strip, (b) a protective coating composition including i) an effective amount of a polymeric component, which polymeric component includes at least one vinyl aromatic polymer or copolymer, ii) an effective amount of a solvent or emulsifier for the polymeric component; the protective coating layer being sufficiently brittle that the surface thereof may be broken, in use, on contact with a bird. A multi-layer bird repellant coating kit according to claim 8 further including (c) a primer coating composition including i) an effective amount of a primer component which primer component includes at least one vinyl aromatic polymer, and ii) an effective solvent or emulsifier for the polymeric coating composition. A method for preparing a bird repellant multi-layer coating on a substrate which method includes (i) providing a substrate,and (ii) coating at least a portion of the substrate, in turn, with (a) at least one bird repellant bead or strip formed from a bird repellant gel composition including approximately 75 to 98% by weight based on the total weight of the composition of at least one butene polymer or copolymer; approximately 1 to 7% by weight based on the total weight of the composition of a clay-based thickening agent; and approximately 1 to 3% by weight based on the total weight of the composition of a polar organic swelling agent, and (b) a protective coating layer formed from an effective amount of a polymeric component, which polymeric component includes at least one vinyl aromatic polymer or copolymer, an effective amount of a solvent or emulsifier for the polymeric componentas described above. A method according to claim 10 further including (iii) drying the at least one bird repellant bead or strip prior to coating with the protective coating layer. A method according to claim 11 further including the preliminary step of (ia) coating the substrate with a primer coating layer formed from a primer coating composition including an effective amount of a primer component which primer component includes at least one vinyl aromatic polymer, and an effective solvent or emulsifier for the polymeric coating composition.

Inventors: CACIOLI, PAUL, SNOW, ROGER
Applicants: HOT FOOT INTERNATIONAL PTY. LTD.
Application year: 1987
Main classification: A01N61
IPC codes: A01N27, A01N25, B05D7, A01M29, B05D5