US006500796Bl  (12)  United States Patent  Ceulemans et al.  (10)  Patent No.:  US 6,500,796 Bl  Dec. 31, 2002  (45)  Date of Patent:  (54)  STABILIZED FABRIC SOFTENING  COMPOSITIONS  (75)  Inventors:  Raphael Angeline Alfons Ceulemans,  Lubbeek (BE);  Axel Masschelein,  Brussels (BE);  Christiaan Arthur  Jacques Kamiel Thoen,  West Chester,  OH (US)  (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  O  days.  (21)  Appl. No.:  09/554,699  (22)  PCT Filed:  Nov. 20, 1998  (86)  PCT No.:  PCT/US98/24838  §  371 (c)(l),  (2), ( 4) Date:  May 18, 2000  (87)  PCT Pub. No.:  WO99/27056  PCT Pub. Date:  Jun. 3, 1999  (51)  Int. CI.7  ..............................  CUD 7/02;  C11D 7/08  (52)  U.S. Cl.  ........................................  510/513;  510/515  (58)  Field of Search  ................................. 510/513, 515,  510/517  (30)  Foreign Application Priority Data  (56)  References Cited  U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS  Nov. 24, 1997  (EP) ............................................ 97870187  Jun. 27, 1998  (EP) ............................................ 98202164  5,518,646 A  5/1996 Van den Brom ............ 252/174  5,726,280 A  3/1998 Uhr et al. ................... 528/328  5,853,430 A  *  12/1998 Shindo et al. ................. 8/137  6,291,411  Bl  *  9/2001 Callaghan et al. .......... 510/191  EP  EP  EP  GB  WO  WO  WO  WO  WO  112593  462806  753565  2303146  WO  95/27038  WO  95/32272  WO  96/21714  WO  96/27649  WO  97/28207  7/1984  12/1991  1/1997  2/1997  10/1995  11/1995  7/1996  9/1996  8/1997  CllD/3/30  CllD/3/40  CllD/1/62  CllD/1/62  ........... CllD/17/00  ............ CllD/3/37  ............ CllD/3/33  ............ CllD/3/00  ........... C08G/73/02  FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS  *  cited by examiner  Primary Examiner-Yogendra  N. Gupta  Assistant Examiner-John  M  Petruncio  (74)  Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Jason  J.  Camp;  Kim  William Zerby; Steven  W.  Miller  A fabric care composition comprises a polyamine functional  polymer and a crystal growth inhibitor selected from the  group consisting of carboxylic compounds, organic mono  and diphosphonic acids, and salts and complexes thereof,  and mixture thereof. In one embodiment, the polyamine  functional polymer has a molecular weight between 200 and  10,000 and, when the crystal growth inhibitor is selected  from carboxylic acid, organic diphosphonic acid, and mix› tures thereof, the crystal growth inhibitor is present in an  amount of less than 1  %  by weight of the composition. In  another embodiment, the crystal growth inhibitor is present  in an amount of from 0.005 to 0.2 percent by weight of the  composition.  (57)  ABSTRACT  21 Claims, No Drawings 