LAVATORY CLEANSING DEVICES

Abstract: A lavatory cleansing device for immersion in the cistern of a lavatory or urinal comprises a first chamber (3) provided with a vent (4) in the upper part thereof and connected via a restricted passageway (5) to a second chamber 6 provided with a discharge port (7) located at a vertical distance below the vent in the first chamber, the first chamber containing a solid block or tablet (9) capable of delivering a surfactant to water on contact therewith and having a density of about the same as that of water, and the second chamber containing a solid block or tablet (8) comprising a chlorine-release agent capable of delivering bleach to water on contact therewith. The chambers may be arranged one above the other or side-by-side.

Description: This invention is concerned with improvements in and relating to lavatory cleansing devices. More particularly the invention is concerned with devices for immersion in the cistern of a lavatory or urinal whereby, on flushing of the cistern, there is delivered to the water in the cistern, and thus to the flush waterfor the lavatory bowl or urinal, a more or less metered dose of (i) a chlorine bleach and (ii) a surfactant or detergent material. Devices for immersion in the cistern of a lavatory or urinal and for delivering doses of chlorine bleach and surfactant to the flush water upon flushing of the cistern are known. Such devices generally comprise a pair of separate dispensing containers; one to dispense chlorine bleach and the other to dispense surfactant. Suitable dispensing containers are, for example, disclosed in GB-A-2165273 which shows a dispensing container comprising a pair of vertically superimposed chambers connected by a restricted passageway, the lower chamber containing a block of the material to be disposed. In each case, the bleach or surfactant source is commonly present in the dispensing container in the form of a solid block or tablet of water-soluble or water-erodible material. Thus, the bleach source commonly takes the form of a compressed block or tablet comprising a chlorine-release agent optionally together with one or more fillers or binders. Typical examples of chlorine-release materials are sodium dichloroisocyanurate, trichloroisocyanuric acid, M,N-dichlorosuccinimide, N-chloro-hydantoin, chloramine T, calcium hypochlorite and the like. The source of surfactant is commonly a block or tablet comprising one or more surfactants optionally together with inert filler, binders or other adjuvants such as water-softening agents, dyes, perfumes and the like. Typical surfactants are anionic surfactants such as the sodium salts of alkyl benzene sulphonates, and non-ionic surfactants such as polyethoxylated derivatives of fatty acids, fatty alcohols, fatty amides or alkyl phenols. It would clearly be desirable, from space considerations, to provide a single dispensing container for dispensing both bleach and surfactant. However, in practice, this is difficult to arrange and, so far as the applicants are aware, there is no such device commercially available. On way to overcome the problem would appear to be to use a combined bleach and surfactant source, that is a tablet or block containing a chlorine-release agent and a surfactant. In practice, however, it is very difficult to formulate such blocks or tablets so that there is no reaction between the components (bleach is, of course, a powerful oxidising agent) or break up of the block or tablet due to gas evolution from the chlorine-release agent. Furthermore, we have found that in practice it is not satisfactory to employ two separate blocks in a single compartment of a dispersing container. However, we have found, in accordance with the present invention, that it is possible to provide a single dispensing container containing separate chlorine-release agent and surfactant blocks, provided that the dispenser is of a specific type, as hereinafter defined, that the blocks are appropriately located in the dispensing device and that the surfactant block has certain properties. The invention, therefore, relates to a lavatory cleansing device containing cleansing materials for immersion in the cistern of a lavatory or an urinal comprising a first chamber (3) provided with a vent (4) in the upper part thereof and a second chamber (6) provided with a discharge port (7) located a vertical distance below the vent in the first chamber, said first and second chambers being connected via a passageway of restricted cross-sectional area as compared with the cross-sectional area of said chambers, the second chamber containing a solid block or tablet (8) comprising a chlorine-release agent capable of delivering bleach to water on contact therewith, as known from GB-A-2165273. According to the invention, the device is characterised in that the first chamber contains a solid block or tablet (9) having a density of about the same as that of water and capable of delivering a surfactant to water on contact therewith. In accordance with one embodiment of the invention, the chambers are arranged one (the first chamber) above the other (the second chamber). In accordance with another embodiment of the invention the two chambers are arranged side-by-side. In the following description reference will be made to the accompanying drawings in which:- Figure 1 is a perspective view of a first embodiment of dispensing device in accordance with the invention; and Figure 2 is a vertical section through another embodiment of dispensing device in accordance with the invention. As shown in Figure 1, a dispensing device in accordance with the invention is formed of a pair of shaped sheets of plastics material, namely a generally planar back sheet 1 and an embossed front sheet 2; sheets 1 and 2 being sealed together at their edges and at intermediate portions to define a dispensing container comprising an upper chamber 3, having a vent 4, connected by restricted passageway or neck 5 to lower chamber 6 having dispensing port 7. A tablet 8, comprising a chlorine release agent is located in lower chamber 6 and a surfactant- containing block 9 is located in upper chamber 3 and is prevented from sliding towards the entrance to passageway 5 by means of indentation 10 in front sheet 2. The dispensing device shown in Figure 2 is also formed of a pair of shaped sheets of plastics material, namely a generally planar back sheet and an embossed front sheet; the sheets being sealed together at their edges and at intermediate portions to define a dispensing container, comprising a first chamber 3, having a vent 4, connected by restricted passageway 5 to second chamber 6 having dispensing port 7. A tablet 8, comprising a chlorine release agent is located in second chamber 6 and a surfactant containing block 9 is located in first chamber 3. Second chamber 6 is smaller, and of lower height, than first chamber 3, so that outlet port 7 is vertically spaced below vent 4. The chlorine-release block 8, in either embodiment, suitably comprises a chlorine-release agent as discussed above, a particularly preferred chlorine release agent being trichloroisocyanic acid. The block suitably has a weight of from 2 to 50 gms, preferably 10 gms. The surfactant block 9, in either embodiment, should, as noted above, have a density of substantially the same as that of water. To this end the block is suitably formulated from nonionic surfactants as principal components although, of course, it may comprise other, e.g. anionic surfactants. Examples of suitable nonionic surfactants include polyethoxylated fatty alcohols, fatty acids, fatty amides and alkyl phenols, as mentioned above. Other suitable nonionic surfactants are fatty acid alkenolamides such as coconut monoethanolamide and coconut diethanolamide. In order to provide for appropriate release and dissolution characteristics the block suitably comprises a blend of nonionic surfactants some of which are more hydrophobic (i.e. have a lower ethylene oxide content in the case of the polyethoxylated surfactants) and others are more hydrophilic (i.e. have a higher ethylene oxide content in the case of the polyethoxide surfactants). The weight of the surfactant block is suitably from 5 to 50, preferably about 25 grms. Other components may be present in the surfactant block, such as fillers as discussed above but is important to ensure that the use of such fillers does not bring the density of the finished material appreciably greater than that of water. Thus, the surfactant block suitably has a density ± 10%, preferably ± 2%, that of water. In operation a dispensing container as shown in either of the drawings is immersed in the cistern of a lavatory or urinal so that the vent 4 is at or about the water level when the cistern is full. Under these conditions, the device will fill with water so that water is contact with each of blocks 8 and 9 in chambers 6 and 3. As a result a portion of surfactant block 9 will dissolve into the water in chamber 3 and similarly the water in chamber 4 will be provided with bleach by partial dissolution of the chlorine-release agent in block 8. When the cistern is flushed, the water level will, of course, drop and as a result water will flow out from the dispensing device, from port 7 thereof, which water will deliver both surfactant and bleach to the water in the cistern. When the cistern refills the container will itself refill and further surfactant and bleach will be dissolved, ready for another flush. It may be noted that in addition to providing cleansing activity, the surfactant delivered to the flush water also serves as a useful measure of the life of the device. Thus the presence of surfactant leads to a foam in the bowl of a lavatory (and this foam can be increased in amount or life by the inclusion of a suitable foam booster in the surfactant block), which foam serves to indicate that the device is working, i.e. is not exhausted.

Claims: A lavatory cleansing device containing cleansing materials for immersion in the cistern of a lavatory or an urinal comprising a first chamber (3) provided with a vent (4) in the upper part thereof and a second chamber (6) provided with a discharge port (7) located a vertical distance below the vent in the first chamber, said first and second chambers being connected via a passageway of restricted cross-sectional area as compared with the cross-sectional area of said chambers, the second chamber containing a solid block or tablet (8) comprising a chlorine-release agent capable of delivering bleach to water on contact therewith, characterised in that the first chamber contains a solid block or tablet (9) having a density of about the same as that of water and capable of delivering a surfactant to water on contact therewith. A lavatory cleansing device as claimed in claim 1 in which the first chamber is located above the second chamber. A lavatory cleansing device as claimed in claim 1 in which the first and second chambers are located side-by-side.

Inventors: BARFORD, ERIC DENNIS, JEFFREY, DANIEL JOHN, MARSHALL, JOHN, RAYNOR, PAUL ANTHONY
Applicants: JEYES LIMITED
Application year: 1989
Main classification: E03D9
IPC codes: E03D9