Process for removing spots from clothes in laundry machines with a vertical shaft

Abstract

A process for removing spots from clothes in laundry machines with a vertical shaft comprising the steps of: a—supplying a washing liquid to a load of soiled clothes inside a perforated basket ( 2 ) for containing clothes and provided internal to a tub ( 1 ) that is supplied with washing liquid until reaching a predetermined level, which is substantially lower than the lowest laundering level and compatible with the load of clothes; b—submitting this load of clothes to at least one agitation period during a certain first agitation time interval; c—maintaining said load of clothes at rest after a respective agitation period has elapsed and during a predetermined first rest time interval, sufficient for the temperature of the washing liquid to reach a value necessary to allow the activation of at least one of the enzymatic and bleaching functions of the washing liquid; d—submitting the load of clothes to a subsequent agitation period during a certain second agitation time interval, sufficient to provide a certain cleaning of the load of clothes, but insufficient to cause a relevant drop in the temperature reached by the washing liquid.

1 . A process for removing spots from clothes in laundry machines with a vertical shaft, comprising a tub ( 1 ) for containing a washing liquid in at least one laundering level, and a perforated basket ( 2 ) for containing clothes and provided internal to the tub ( 1 ), said process characterized in that it comprises the steps of: a—supplying a washing liquid to a load of soiled clothes contained inside the perforated basket ( 2 ) until reaching a predetermined level that is substantially lower than the lowest laundering level and compatible with the load of clothes; b—submitting the load of clothes immersed in the washing liquid to at least one agitation period during a certain first agitation time interval; c—maintaining the load of clothes immersed in the washing liquid at rest after a respective agitation period has elapsed and during a predetermined first rest time interval sufficient for the temperature of the washing liquid to reach a value necessary to allow activation of at least one of the enzymatic and bleaching functions of the washing liquid; d—submitting the load of clothes immersed in the washing liquid to a subsequent agitation period during a certain second agitation time interval, which is sufficient to provide a certain cleaning of the load of clothes, but insufficient to cause a relevant drop in the temperature reached by the washing liquid; and e—extracting the washing liquid from the load of clothes.  
     
     
         2 . The process as set forth in  claim 1 , characterized in that it includes, after step “d”, the additional steps of:—maintaining the load of clothes immersed in the washing liquid after a preceding agitation period has elapsed and during a predetermined second rest time interval, sufficient for the temperature of the washing liquid to reach a value necessary to allow activation of the other of said enzymatic and bleaching functions of the washing liquid not obtained with the temperature reached in the previous rest time interval;—submitting the load of clothes immersed in the washing liquid to another respective and subsequent agitation period during a certain third agitation time interval, sufficient to provide a certain cleaning of the load of clothes, but insufficient to cause a relevant drop in the temperature reached by the washing liquid.  
     
     
         3 . The process as set forth in  claim 1 , characterized in that it includes, after step “e”, the steps of rinsing the load of clothes and spinning the washing liquid.  
     
     
         4 . The process as set forth in  claim 3 , characterized in that it includes, after step “e”, and prior to the rinsing and spinning steps, the steps of:—supplying a determined quantity of water to the load of clothes in the perforated basket, until reaching a previously selected laundering level; and—submitting the load of clothes to the steps of a laundering process.  
     
     
         5 . The process as set forth in  claim 1 , characterized in that the temperature in the first rest time interval reaches about 40° C.-45° C.  
     
     
         6 . The process as set forth in  claim 2 , characterized in that the temperature in the second rest time interval reaches about 55° C.-65° C.  
     
     
         7 . The process as set forth in  claim 1 , characterized in that the first agitation period is carried out at room temperature.  
     
     
         8 . The process as set forth in  claim 1 , characterized in that the predetermined level is calculated for a load of soiled clothes of about 30% the nominal load of the lowest laundering level.  
     
     
         9 . The process as set forth in  claim 8 , characterized in that the agitation periods present the same duration.  
     
     
         10 . The process as set forth in  claim 9 , characterized in that the agitation periods are of the order of 7 minutes.  
     
     
         11 . The process as set forth in  claim 9 , characterized in that the resting periods are equal.  
     
     
         12 . The process as set forth in  claim 11 , characterized in that the resting periods are of the order of 20 minutes.  
     
     
         13 . The process as set forth in  claim 2 , characterized in that it includes, after step “e”, the steps of rinsing the load of clothes and spinning the washing liquid.