(IO)  Patent No.:  US 7,153,817 B2  Dec. 26, 2006  (45)  Date of Patent:  c12)  United States Patent  Binder  (54)  DETERGENT TABLET  (75)  Inventor:  Christopher James Binder,  North  Shields (GB)  (73)  Assignee:  The Procter & Gamble Company,  Cincinnati, OH (US)  ( *)  Notice:  Subject to any disclaimer, the term of this  patent is extended or adjusted under 35  U.S.C. 154(b) by 490 days.  (21)  Appl. No.:  10/204,877  (22)  PCT Filed:  Feb. 20, 2001  (86)  PCT No.:  PCT /US0l/05396  § 371 (c)(l),  (2), ( 4) Date:  Aug. 23, 2002  (87)  PCT Pub. No.:  WO0l/62886  PCT Pub. Date:  Aug. 30, 2001  (65)  Prior Publication Data  US 2003/0032568 Al  Feb. 13, 2003  (30)  Foreign Application Priority Data  Feb. 23, 2001  (GB)  ................................. 0004130.1  (51)  Int. Cl.  CllD  17100  (2006.01)  CllD 3/06  (2006.01)  (52)  U.S. Cl.  .......................  510/226;  510/224; 510/220  ( 58)  Field of Classification Search  ... ... ... ... .. ..  510/114,  510/191,224,220,226  See application file for complete search history.  (56)  References Cited  U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS  4,460,490 A  4,465,612 A  5,733,859  A  5,877,132  A  *  5,981,449 A  6,274,538 Bl  *  7/1984 Barford et al.  8/1984 Altenschopfer et al.  3/ 1998 Carrie et al.  3/1999 Callaghan et al. .......... 510/114  ll/ 1999 Rapisarda et al.  8/2001 Addison ..................... 510/224  FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS  EP  EP  EP  EP  EP  GB  0 612 843 Al  0 496 188 Bl  0 851 023 A2  0 601 990 Bl  1 061 123 Al  1 307 387  8/1994  10/1997  7 /1998  10/1998  12/2000  2/1973  * cited by examiner  Primary Examiner-Yogendra  N. Gupta  Assistant Examiner-Preeti  Kumar  (74)  Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Armina  E. Matthews; Ian S.  Robinson; Laura R. Grunzinger  (57)  ABSTRACT  A machine cleaner tablet comprising from about 10 to about  7 5% of a limescale remover acid, from about 1 to about 20%  oflow foaming non-ionic surfactant, from about 0.5 to about  5% of a detergency enzyme and wherein the tablet has a pH  measured as a 1 % solution in distilled water at 20°  C. in the  range from about 1 to about 5. The tablet is used for cleaning  the interior of automatic dishwashers, food processing  machines and the like.  15 Claims, No Drawings  US007153817B2 