A SYNTHETIC, ABRASIVE, COUPLED TAMPON AND THE REALIZATION PROCESS THEREOF

Abstract: A synthetic, abrasive, coupled tampon for use in manual cleaning of pots, dishes, kitchen utensils and in general for removing incrustations from washable surfaces, comprising two layers of synthetic, abrasive fibre coupled one to the other by means of welding along all its edging; and the relative process for the realization of said tampon in continuity, that begins with the production of the wadding from the raw material in flocks consisting of poliammidic or polyester fibre, and continues with the production of the abrasive fibre roll, the coupling phase of the two layers of said fibre, with eventual interposition of soap, the welding phase along lines that will form the outline of the tampons, and ends with the cutting of the coupled fibre into single tampons, which cutting is performed along the centre line of the welding areas.

Description: "A SYNTHETIC , ABRASIVE , COUPLED TAMPON AND THE REALIZATION PROCESS THEREOF" The present invention concerns a synthetic , abrasive, coupled tampon and the realization process thereof , wherein said tampon may be used for the manual cleaning of pots , dishes , kitchen utensils and in general for removing incrustations from washable surfaces , comprising two layers of abrasive synthetic fibre, coupled by welding along all its edging. It is known that for the removal of particularly resistant food incrustations from pots and kitchen utensils often steel wood tampons must be used, alone or imbued with soap. Such ferrous materials however easily rust and during use release metal particles and filaments which may be dangerous if swallowed, are unpleasant at the touch and may cause small abrasions or wounds on the fingers if they are used with naked hands ; finally, they may cause scratches or damage the new anti-adherent materials used for coating pots (e . g. teflon and in general plastic coatings ) . At present, the industries producing sponges and abrasive clothes for cleaning in the kitchen are looking for new products that may replace such metal tampons. A kind of synthetic abrasive tampon with small density is already known, comprising a plurality of continuous thermoplastic organic filaments, curled or undulated, corresponding to the introduction of claim 1 of European patent EP 0 359 495. Said filaments are welded one to the other at the two terminals so as to obtain to opposite welding areas and an open, soft tampon non consisting of cloth. The realization process of said tampon comprises a station for opening the raw fibre for obtaining an open and soft yarn; a station for welding the filaments, for obtaining opposite welding areas at the opposite terminals of the fibres forming the tampon; a station for cutting each of said weldings along its median line, for deviding each single tampon. Furthermore, said process may also comprise a station for covering the yarn with a liquid adhesive thermosettinq glue; a station for depositing abrasive particles onto the yarn treated with said glue, and a station for drying said thermosetting liquid. The object according to above described invention has the main inconvenience that, as the filaments forming the tampon are not interwoven but only welded at their ends, they tend to fray and to breake with use, getting entangled in the protuberances or in the holes of the kitchen utensils; furthermore, said filaments give a low mechanic resistance to the tampon, to the traction in the normal sense of the filaments, as well as to the penetration of pointed objects, like forks or knives. A further inconvenience deriving from the fact that the fibres are oriented and not interwoven consists in the low capacity of the tampon to retain eventual liquid or solid soaps. Furthermore, the thermic welding performed at the terinals of the organic thermoplastic fibres of the tampon causes a considerable rigidity at the ends of said tampon, which therefore may cause, during use, abrasions to the hands or damage to the surfaces to be cleaned. Finally, the process for applying abrasive particles to the fibres of the yarn causes an excessive abrasive capacity of the tampon and a considerable facility of releasing said particles during use. The present i-nvention, as it is claimed in the attached claims, solves the problem of creating a tampon out of synthetic abrasive fibre, that may be used in cleaning operations and especially for removing incrustations on pots, kitchen utensils and washable surfaces, comprising two layers of abrasive fibre, preferably coupled by means of an ultrasound welding along lines that will form, after the cutting of the single tampons, the perimetral areas of said tampon. Said tampon is realized by means of a continuous working process, that begins with the production of the wadding from the raw material in flocks, continues with the phase for the production of the roll of abrasive fibre, the phase for the coupling of two layers of said fibre, with eventual interposition of soap, the welding phase along lines that will form the outline of the tampons and ends with the cutting of the coupled fibre into single tampons, which cutting is performed along the centre line of the welding areas. By using a tampon of this kind, realized with the realization process acording to the present invention, the results and the advantages described hereinbelow will be obtained. The use of a double layer of abrasive fibre, obtained by a non-spun cloth consisting of pol ammidic or polyester fibres casually placed, and welded along the edging of the tampon, confers the latter 1 a greater resistance, in all directions, to the penetration of pointed objects or to the hooking with eventual protuberances of the objects to be cleaned, prevents the release of fibres, created an internal, not welded area that gives the tampon a greater capacity of retaining liquid or solid soaps, assures a greater softness to the perimetrical weldings and to the tampon which therefore is less abrasive and aggressive on the surfaces to be cleaned and on the fingers of the user. Furthermore, the fibre may be coloured so as to avoid the aspect of the metal tampons, it may be welded and cut in all geometric shapes, from the circular to the polygonal one, as it has no preferential directions to respect. Finally, the production process ror tne tampon is very simpie and the use of the fibre in roiis allows to realize many adjacent tampons at the same time, in the unrolling sense of said roiis as well as in the normal sense, for ail the length of said fibre. The present invention will be described more in detail hereinbelow relating to the enclosed drawings in which a preferred embodiment is shown. Figure I shows a perspective view of an abrasive tampon according to the present invention. Figure 2 shows a perspective view of a band of tampons before the cutting. Figure 3 shows a section along the line A-A of figure 2 of said tampon band. Figures 4 and 5 show a scheme of the production phases of the tampon according to the present invention. Relating to the details shown in the enclosed figures, the present invention consists in an abrasive, synthetic, coupled tampon for removing incrustations from washable surfaces, mainly comprising: - an upper layer la of abrasive fibre; - a lower layer lb of abrasive fibre; - a welded edging area 2 for the coupling of the two layers; - an internal -room 3. According to the present invention, the upper and lower layer la and lb of the tampon are of abrasive fibre obtained from a non spun cloth consisting of poliammidic or polyester fibres casually placed and obtained with carding machines and further passed through a needle machine for increasing the consistence and the resistance to the longitudinal and transversal tractions of the non spun cloth, impregnated with acrilic, vinacrilic and urea resins with the addition of abrasive substances of the known kind and coloured in such a way as to preferably assume a silvery aspect. Said layers la and lb are coupled preferably by means of ultrasound welding or by thermic welding or by coupling with glues of known kind, along small strips 2 placed on the fibre according to a geometric bidimensional net, with meshes of preferred shape showing each single tampon. Said welding strips 2 are further separated by means of a cut along their median line, thus forming the edge of each single abrasive tampon. Therefore, the central area 3 of said tampon has no links with-said layers la and lb, enclosing an air volume that makes the tampon soft and into which it is possible to inject, after the coupling of said layers, or to house, before said coupling, thermosetting liquid soap or solid, powder, granule or flake soap. The realization process for obtaining the abrasive, synthetic, coupled tampon according to the present invention is shown in figure 4 and mainly comprises the following working phases: - production of the wadding (or non spun cloth); - production of the abrasive fibre in rolls; - coupling of two layers or abrasive fibre with soap interposition; - welding of the areas around the tampons; - cutting of the tampons. The raw material for beginning the production of the tampons according to the present invention consist of a recicled or virgin flock 4 of poliammidic or polyesther fibre that is first treated with carding machines 5 of the kind known for the production of wadding 12, forming the resinated non spun cloth; in the phase 6, it is passed through needle machines of the known kind, for increasing the consistence and the resistance to longitudinal and transversal tractions, imbued with acrilic, vinacrilic and urea resins of the known kind (or with only one of them), with the addition of abrasive substances of known kind, like e.g. silica or aluminium oxide, and finally coloured with organic pigments of the known kind so as to assume a preferably glittering aspect like a silvery metal, and prepared in rolls 7. Said rolls 7 of semi-finished fibre are passed through an unrolling device 8 that allows the superimposition of two fibre layers la and lb. Said fibre layers are further coupled in a permanent manner in a welding station 9, preferably with ultrasound welding, but the same aim may be achieved also with thermic welding or with glues of known kind. Said pressing welding station 9 realizes on the fibre strip a plurality of tampons linked one to another in the welding areas 2, which are also the only welding areas between said upper and lower fibre layers. In the final, cutting station 10 the tampons are separated one from the other by a cut in said welding areas 2, along the respective median lines. The cutting station may be eventually englobed in the welding station 9, by an appropriate shaping of the pressing stamp. In the whole realization process of the tampon, it is also possible to insert a station for dosing the soap 11, which can be preferably provided in the phase of unrolling of the fibre rolls, and that will be realized by impregnation or by spraying liquid or solid soaps between the two fibre layers la and lb during the unrolling of said rolls. In an alternative embodiment, the station 11 for dosing the soap may be provided behind the welding station 9, and in this case the soap will be sprayed into each single tampon.

Claims: CLAIMS 1. A synthetic, abrasive, coupled tampon for removing incrustations from washable surfaces, mainly comprising: - an upper layer (la) of abrasive fibre; - a lower layer (lb) of abrasive fibre; - a welded edging area (2) for the coupling of the two layers; - an internal room (3), characterized in that said upper layers (la) and lower layers (lb) of abrasive fibre are coupled between each other by means of an ultrasound welding only along the edging of said tampon, thus enclosing inside said tampon an air chamber (3). 2. A tampon according to claim 1, characterized in that the upper layers (la) and the lower layers (lb) consist of abrasive fibre obtained by a non spun cloth of poliammidic or polyesther fibres. 3. A tampon according to the precedent claims, characterized in that the welding of said upper layers (la) to said lower layers (lb) is performed in continuity along small strips (2) placed onto the fibre according to a geometric bidimensional net with meshes of a preferred shape showing each single tampon, as said small strips are further divided along their median line for forming the single tampons. 4. A tampon according to the precedent claims, characterized-in that the coupling welding of the two layers - the upper layer (la) and the lower layer (lb) - is obtained by means of thermic fusion. 5. A tampon according to the precedent claims, characterized in that the coupling of said upper layers (la) and lower layers (lb) is obtained by glueing. 6. A tampon according to the precedent claims, characterized in that the internal room (3) contains a soapy (or cleaning) substance. 7. A process for the realization of a synthetic, abrasive, coupled tampon, characterized in that it comprises the following operations: - the production of wadding by treating the raw material, consisting of a recicled or virgin flock of poliammidic or polyester fibre, with carding machines; - the production of the abrasive in rolls by treating the wadding (a non spun cloth) with needle machines, with organic resins, with addition of abrasive substances and pigments for colouring the same; - the superimposition of two layers of abrasive fibres in machines for unrolling the rolls; - the coupling of said two fibre layers in a welding station by ultrasound fusion of said fibre along small strips placed according to a net forming a plurality of tampons placed on a plane, with a common edging formed by said welding net; - the separation of the single tampons by cutting the fibre along the median lines in the welding areas. 8. A process according to claim 7, characterized in that the welding and cutting stations are englobed in one single phase by an appropriate shaping of the pressing stamp. 9. A process according to claim 7, characterized in that it comprises furthermore the operation of dosing soapy substances during the superimposition of said two layers of fibre in the device for unrolling the fibre roll. 14 10. A process according to claim 7, characterized in that it comprises, beyond the operation of spraying soapy substances into the single tampons, the operation of coupling the two fibre layers by welding or glueing.

Inventors: CORAZZI ALBERTO, CORAZZI, ALBERTO
Applicants: CORAZZI ALBERTO, CORAZZI, ALBERTO
Application year: 1995
Main classification: A47L17
IPC codes: A47L13, A47L17