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# (12) United States Patent 

# Ceulemans et al. 

# (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 

## (30) Foreign Application Priority Data 

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(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 

## (56) References Cited 

5,518,646 A 5/1996 Van den Brom ............ 252/174 

## U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS 

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# (10) Patent No.: US 6,500,796 Bl 

# Dec. 31, 2002 (45) Date of Patent: 

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* 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 

## (57) ABSTRACT 

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. 

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US006500796Bl 

## FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS 

## 21 Claims, No Drawings 

