Patent ID: 6897188

Claim:
A liquid conditioner concentrate comprising: (a) about 1 wt. % to about 40 wt. % of a combination of anionic surfactant component and nonionic surfactant component, wherein: (i) the anionic surfactant component is provided in the concentrate in an amount of between about 0.5 wt. % and about 30 wt. %; (ii) the nonionic surfactant component is provided within the concentrate at a concentration of between about 0.5 wt. % and about 30 wt. %; and (iii) the weight ratio of the anionic surfactant component to the nonionic surfactant component is provided within a range of about 15:1 to about 1:5; (b) about 20 wt. % to about 60 wt. % of a water conditioning agent; wherein the ratio of the combination of anionic surfactant component and nonionic surfactant component to the water conditioning agent is between about 3:1 and about 1:10, wherein the water conditioning agent comprises at least one of sodium tripolyphosphate (STPP), ethylene diamine tetra-acetic acid (EDTA), salt of ethylene diamine tetra-acetic acid, nitrilo triacetic acid (NTA), polyacrylates, phosphonates, oxalic acid, salt of oxalic acid, citric acid, salt of citric acid, zeolites, condensed phosphates, carbonates, polycarboxylates, and mixtures thereof; (c) about 0.1 wt. % to about 10 wt. % low temperature stabilizing agent comprising ethanolamine, wherein the low temperature stabilizing agent is provided in an amount sufficient to maintain stability of the liquid conditioner concentrate at a temperature as low as 40° F. for at least 4 weeks wherein stability is exhibited by a separate phase or layer that, if present, contains less then 5% of the total volume of the liquid conditioner concentrate; (d) about 40 wt. % to about 95 wt. % water; and (e) about 0.5 wt. % to about 10 wt. % fatty soap containing an alkyl group having between about 10 and about 20 carbon atoms; wherein the liquid conditioner concentrate is constructed for washing textiles in an automatic clothes washing machine.