Field of the invention

The present invention relates to a solid composition of matter intended to be used by abrading a surface and having a usage indicia. In particular it relates to a cleansing composition in the form of a soap bar having indicia relatable to its use.

Background of the invention

Any discussion of the prior art throughout the specification should in no way be considered as an admission that such prior art is widely known or forms part of the common general knowledge in the field. Consumer goods may be durable or nondurable. Durable goods have a significant life span. Nondurable or fast moving consumer goods, on the other hand, are for immediate or almost immediate consumption and have a life span ranging from few minutes to a few months.

Some cleansing products and food products are consumed over a short period and are meant for a certain purpose. Therefore it is necessary that the consumers use the product in a manner that serves the purpose and especially in the products with life span ranging from few minutes to few days, the manner of every single use matters.

There are a variety of reasons to indicate the use of consumer products. The reasons vary from instilling user behavior, teaching the manner of use to an uneducated consumer or a kid, inculcating a consumer habit to use a particular quantity to achieve the desired effect and for promoting a purpose by combining amusement with use, such as health and hygiene among kids.

There are a variety of means to indicate usage of a consumer product such as a sensory signal like change in color within definite time; e.g., US2003191036A (Kimberley Clark) wherein is disclosed a soap that contains an indicator that produces an observable change after a period of time to show that sufficient cleaning has been done or to indicate the extent of the cleaning. This use indicating change is useful for, for example, teaching children to wash their hands for a sufficient period. However, some of such means are complicated, expensive and require an external indicator or digital transmission via electronic means.

US6031461 A and US7477148 BB (John Lynn, 2000) discloses a method and apparatus for helping to assure the washing of hands. An easily identifiable substance is provided which can be removed by washing, and a marking mechanism is coupled to the easily identifiable substance. A hand of a person is then marked with the easily identifiable substance when the marking mechanism is triggered.

WO13/087520 A1 (Unilever) discloses a system suitable for monitoring usage of a soap bar, the system comprising a soap bar, a programmable data logger which is positioned in the soap bar, the data logger incorporating a motion sensor, a sound sensor, a data store for the logging of data and switching means for triggering the operation of the sound sensor in response to initial signals of soap motion generated by the motion sensor, and a data analysis device which is adapted to analyse data transmitted or acquired from the system to provide information about soap bar usage; in which the duration of data logging is controllable in response to the signals received from the motion sensor and the sound sensor respectively.

WO/2006/137955 (KIMBERLY-CLARK WORLDWIDE, INC.) discloses a cleaning composition that effects a color change at a given temperature or temperature range. This cleaning composition involves a thermo-chromic ingredient and works only when it comes in contact in water, therefore it is not suitable for a cosmetic article such as a pressed powder. It is also not suitable for use where there is no considerable change of temperature during use.

US 2008/045437 (Barbara Pfeifer) discloses soap bar body made from a first soap composition. The soap bar body includes a ridge defining a perimeter of the face such that the face and the ridge jointly define a recess in the soap bar body. The soap bar body further includes indicia that are at least one of within the face and extending above the face therefrom. The indicia are made from the first soap composition and the first soap composition is of a first color. The soap bar further comprises a layer of a second soap composition within the recess and covering the indicia such that the indicia are visually hidden under the layer of the second soap composition. The second soap composition is of a second color different than the first color. The application discloses a soap bar made of more than one composition and no visible indicium on the surface to motivate use. The user of the soap bar has to use the soap to reveal or make the indicium visible and therefore the usage does not relate to usage. The object of the invention is to have a soap bar with hidden indicia therein within, which become visible only after the soap bar is used and that would remain visible long after the indicia on the soap bar's outer surface had worn off.

The food services and the healthcare industry has developed various systems intended to address the problem of insufficient hand washing. Such systems typically involve complex hardware and elaborate electronics for sensing and monitoring the hand washing and bathing process. Therefore they are not suitable for use at home. Moreover they do not address the issue of educating consumers for longer term.

The ability to monitor various aspects of consumer behaviour is the key to developing effective intervention strategies and evoking behaviour change. Therefore, there is a need for products which educate, motivate and inculcate behaviour or rouses a consumer for using a given consumer product in the recommended manner.

There is a need for an article which is simplified, economical, easy to manufacture and which indicates, educates and motivates the consumer about its usage in a very simplified format. The article should be simple enough such that it does not require any special ingredient or a different soap composition as a usage indicium. Also, the article's indicium should be such that it is easy for the kids to translate into usage. The article preferably provides an indication of use in a direct and constant manner, preferably by indicating a pre-defined amount of product to be used.

Summary of the invention

Disclosed invention relates to a solid composition of matter intended to be used by abrading a surface and more particularly to a composition with usage indicia.

In one aspect, there is provided a solid composition of matter intended to be used by abrading a surface thereof, said surface comprising a first visible indicium associated with a first time use of the composition and at least one separate visible indicium associated with a successive use of the composition, where the first visible indicium corresponds to a quantity of composition recommended to be abraded for use of the composition for the first time and each successive visible indicium corresponds to the quantity of the composition recommended to be abraded for each successive use of the composition.

In another aspect, there is provided use of a composition of matter for educating a consumer to use recommended quantity of composition by abrading of a surface thereof, said surface comprising a first visible indicium associated with a first time use of the composition and at least one separate visible indicium associated with a successive use of the composition, where the first visible indicium corresponds to a quantity of composition recommended to be abraded for use of the composition for the first time and each successive visible indicium corresponds to the quantity of the composition recommended to be abraded for each successive use of the composition.

Brief Description of the figures

FIG.1 is an isometric view of a preferred embodiment of a composition of matter in the form of a bar of soap for personal wash. Detailed Description of the figures

FIG.1 is an isometric view of a preferred embodiment of a composition of matter in the form of a bar of soap for personal wash. The bar (1 ) is generally rectangular having a first major saddle shaped surface (2), a minor side (3) and another minor side (4). The surface (2) has five indicia (5, 6, 7, 8, 9) which are shaped in the form of hands. Each indicium is indented to a greater extent (depth) as compared to its predecessor. Each indicia further contains a distinct Arabic numeral (1 to 5) to further easily associate the indicium with the usage of the bar. Indicium (5) associated with numeral 1 i.e., the first use of the bar and represented in the numbering as (10) is indented to the least extent. On the other hand, indicium (9) is indented to the maximum depth. In order to clearly show the depths between successive indicium, all the indicia are also shown in exploded form.

Detailed Description of the invention

Home and personal care products can broadly be classified into cosmetic and beauty products, homecare products and edible products. While some fast moving consumer products, by virtue of having been in use for decades, are now used in the correct manner by most consumers; there are some products where consumers still need to be educated and familiarized with the correct method of use. A simple example is a common bar of soap which is used all over the world. It is recommended that each time a person uses a bar of soap for a bath; the person should ideally consume/utilize a given quantity of the bar. However, most consumers are either ignorant or ill-informed and they end up using far less than the recommended quantity for each use leaving their body much less cleaner and protected than it should be. Unclean hands are known to be the cause of several diseases. Appropriate use of soap is an effective method of intervention.

Wherever soap bars are used for washing hands, the practice varies from place to place and most people do not use it in the right manner. The widely held belief is that if hands look clean, they are considered to be clean. The ability to monitor various aspects of consumer behaviour is the key to developing effective intervention strategies and evoking change. What is needed is simple and effective method which is also engaging and fun.

A similar technical problem exists in the area of other fast moving consumer products where consumers use the product not in the recommended manner. Non-limiting examples thereof include petroleum jelly, cosmetic creams, non-soap detergent bars, laundry soap bars, hand-dish wash bars, ice cream, ice confection, candies, chocolate bars and deodorant and antiperspirant stick products. This may lead to a situation where less than recommended quantity of petroleum jelly is applied to the body, or less than optimal quantity of a bar of laundry soap is applied to clothes by direct application method. This also may lead to a situation where underarms are not protected with the right amount of deodorant stick. In the case of edible products, this may lead to a situation where consumers, with each lick or bite, do not consume the recommended amount of ice cream or a bar of chocolate for the right mouth feel. Use of each of these products involves abrasion of a surface of the product. Abrasion may be by contact of the product with an inanimate surface such as utensils or clothes or an animate surface such as hands, body, tongue and the underarms.

For example, a consumer is ideally expected to apply a given, but ascertained amount of an antiperspirant stick product to each underarm for effective underarm protection and action. He may be expected to consume a given, but ascertained amount, of an ice cream for the right mouth feel or to get the benefits of a certain amount of RDA of a given nutrient.

In all such cases, the manufacturers, marketers and innovators of such products are best equipped to know how much quantity of such product should be consumed at each use, intervention or contact, but the consumers often need to be educated.

Having identified the need in the art for products which educate, motivate and inculcate behaviour or rouses a consumer for using a given consumer product in the recommended manner, a simple yet effective method for educating the consumers, especially of fast moving consumer goods, to use a product in the recommended manner for a first and every successive use has been provided herein.

The composition

Disclosed in a first aspect is a composition of matter intended to be used by abrading a surface thereof, said surface comprising a first visible indicium associated with a first time use of the composition and at least one separate visible indicium associated with a successive use of the composition, where the first visible indicium corresponds to a quantity of composition recommended to be abraded for use of the composition for the first time and each successive visible indicium corresponds to the quantity of the composition recommended to be abraded for each successive use of the composition. Preferably the composition is a consumer product. More preferably it is in form of a bar, an application stick, a cake or a pressed powder. Further preferably the consumer product is a cleansing composition, an edible composition, a personal use composition or a cosmetic composition. Non-limiting examples include petroleum jelly, cosmetic creams, non-soap detergent bars, personal wash bars, laundry soap bars, hand-dish wash bars, ice cream, ice confection, candies, chocolate bars and deodorant and antiperspirant stick products. The requirement is that such a composition should be solid i.e., should not be liquid as in mouthwash or a liquid detergent.

The expression "bar" in the context of the present invention generally means a solid unit of shape and size adapted to be picked-up and grasped for use by hands. In general, the bar weighs from 20 g to 250 g, having dimensions in excess of several cm in at least one dimension. Non-soap detergent bars, personal wash bars, laundry soap bars and hand-dish wash bars are all included therein and each is meant for a particular purpose which is well understood. The composition of the invention is preferably homogenous. The ingredients of the composition are preferably homogenously divided over the entire volume of the composition, e.g. the bar.

Where the composition is a bar of cleansing composition, its hardness would typically range from 30 to 100 hardness units, preferably from 40 to about 75 units.

A "soap bar" in the context of this invention will typically include one or more surfactants, and various additives and other optional ingredients. Surfactants provide lather and assist in the removal of soil and germs. Typical surfactants are selected from anionic surfactants such as fatty acid soaps, synthetic anionic detergents, and mixtures thereof. By "fatty acid soap" is meant alkali metal or alkanolammonium salts of aliphatic alkane- or alkene monocarboxylic acids. Examples of synthetic anionic detergents include the alkyi sulphates, alkyi ether sulphates, alkaryl sulphonates, alkanoyi isethionates, alkyi succinates, alkyi sulphosuccinates, alkyi ether sulphosuccinates, N-alkyl sarcosinates, alkyi phosphates, alkyi ether phosphates, and alkyi ether carboxylic acids and salts thereof, especially their sodium, magnesium, ammonium and mono-, di- and triethanolamine salts. The alkyi and acyl groups generally contain from 8 to 18, preferably from 10 to 16 carbon atoms and may be unsaturated. The alkyi ether sulphates, alkyi ether sulphosuccinates, alkyi ether phosphates and alkyi ether carboxylic acids and salts thereof may contain from 1 to 20 ethylene oxide or propylene oxide units per molecule.

Other classes of surfactant (such as nonionic, cationic or amphoteric surfactants and mixtures thereof) may also be included to boost bar properties such as foaming and/or skin mildness. The total amount of surfactant(s) in the soap bar is typically from about 20 wt% to about 80 wt%, preferably 40 wt% to about 75 wt%.

Also, there are a variety of additives that may optionally be formulated into soap bars to provide additional consumer benefits or modify the performance of the products. Examples include free fatty acids, opacifiers (such as titanium dioxide and the like), fluorescers, dyes, chelants, antioxidants, lanolin, vitamin E, aloe vera gel, mineral oil, baking soda, inert materials (such as oatmeal, dextrin, starch, wax, talc and the like), cationic polymers based on natural materials such as cellulose, guar gums, and proteins, and skin antimicrobial agents (such as trichlorocarbanalide and trichlorohydroxydiphenyl ether).

Bars meant for personal washing may be prepared by the extrusion process or the melt cast route.

Bars meant for or hand dish wash applications usually contain anionic surfactants and builders. Specific examples of anionic surfactants are linear and branched alkyl benzene sulphonates, alkane sulphonates, secondary alcohol sulphates, primary alcohol sulphates, alpha olefin sulphonates, alkyl ether sulphates, fatty acyl ester sulphonates, and mixtures of these. Generally the amount of surfactants is 5 to 65 wt % of the total bar composition, preferably 10 to 20 wt %, based on the total composition. Detergency builders include water soluble phosphates, e.g. sodium tripolyphosphate, pyrophosphate, orthophosphate, and metaphosphates , sodium carbonate, sodium nitrilotriacetate, sodium tartrate, sodium citrate, trisodium carboxymethyl oxysuccinate, sodium oxydisuccinate, sodium sulphonated long-chain monocarboxylic acids, polymeric carboxylate builders such as polyacrylic acid, maleic acid copolymers and oxidised starch and cellulose; and aluminosilicate ion exchangers; e.g. Zeolite 4A.

Built (non-soap detergent) NSD bars often contain a proportion of filler which although generally chemically inert is significant in contributing to the properties of the bar. An appropriate range for such filler (if used) is 5 wt% to 60 wt% by weight of the composition. The filler may consist of water soluble salts such as sodium sulphate also water insoluble fillers. Examples of water insoluble fillers are calcite, aluminosilicate, dolomite, feldspar, calcium silicate and calcium sulphate.

Other ingredients include sodium carboxymethyl cellulose and cellulose ethers, cellulose itself, starch, lather enhancing agents such as long chain alkanolamides and alcohols exemplified by coconut monoethanolamide, coconut diethanolamide and coconut alcohol, humectants such as glycerol, sorbitol and mono- and disaccharides, colouring materials, enzymes, fluorescers, opacifiers, germicides, desiccants such as calcium, magnesium and aluminium oxides, perfumes and bleaching agents.

A built detergent bar is substantially rigid, enabling it to be rubbed against a surfaced of an item of laundry.

The bar of cleansing composition, which may be for any intended use and formulated accordingly, may be of any known shape. These include rectangular, oval and rectangular with shape edges or rounded edges, or a saddle shape with rounded edges. A saddle shape is a shape where the soap bar, along its major axis is convex on one side and concave on the other side.

The composition may also be a Petroleum Jelly product. A well known example whereof is Vaseline ^® .

The composition may be antiperspirant or deodorant stick.

A typical stick deodorant comprises an aqueous solution of an astringent antiperspirant salt (aluminium/zirconium salts, which may comprise complexes such as chloro salts), a water-soluble di or trihydric alcohol that is capable of acting as an humectant, such as glycerol or a PEG oligomer, a hydrocarbon wax such as a petroleum wax, including particularly a paraffin wax, or a mineral wax or ozocerite, a silicone emulsifier, fumed silica, allantoin, vitamins or lipids, colours and preservatives. The composition is wiped across the skin to apply it topically and locally at ambient temperature. The action is otherwise repeated until the user considers that sufficient composition has been deposited, often in the region of 3 to 8 wipes per armpit. The composition is thereafter left in place, conventionally, for a period of time commonly between 5 and 24 hours until it is washed off. The weight of antiperspirant active applied per armpit is often in the range of from 0.15 to 0.5 grams.

As described earlier, the composition may also be a food product. Non-limiting examples include ice cream and frozen confections. Details of formulation and manufacture of such products can be found in standard literature.

Creating indicium

The articles of the invention are preferably manufactured by extrusion or cast melt method.

For the articles created by the process of extrusion the article can be extruded in a solid albeit soft state and gets pressed between die moulds which have an inbuilt indicium impression as desired on the article. The article thus gets stamped inside the die and comes out of the mould with the desired design/indicium.

For the articles created by the cast melt process, the indicium can be created at the stage of pouring the liquid composition in a mould having the impression of the desired indicium. The composition is then allowed to solidify which then takes the shape of the mould. The final article with the indicium can then be taken out from the mould.

Cast melt articles can also be provided with an indicium after the solidification stage, preferably by stamping. In this method, the liquid composition is poured in a regular mould without any impressions for creating indicium. The solidified article is obtained as a non-stamped article, preferably a bar, after it solidifies. These articles, e.g. bars, are then preferably cut into the required size and shape. The articles are preferably made to pass through a stamping machine which stamps/creates the required indicium on the article to result in a finished articles showing indicia.

The invention therefore, further relates to a process to prepare a solid composition of the invention, the process comprising the steps of:

^♦ Providing a composition in a liquid or semi-solid state,

^♦ Combining the composition with a die mould,

^♦ Shaping the composition, ^♦ Removing the die mould,

wherein the die mould comprises one or more indicium impressions, or wherein one or more indicia are provided to the article after removal of the die mould.

The combing step preferably comprises extruding or casting of preferably a liquid or semi-solid state composition into the die mould, The shaping preferably comprises compressing, for example when the die mould is compressed, to compress a semisolid composition, or the shaping comprises solidifying, for example in case the process involves a cast-melt process wherein liquid composition is combined with a mould and allowed to solidify. In case one or more indicia are provided to the article after removal of the die mould, it is preferred that this involves stamping indicia into the article.

The indicium

The indicium could be in the form of a raised or a depressed structure. Examples include indentations and protuberances. Each indicium is preferably in form of an indentation but the indicium could be of different shapes and sizes.

Each indicium could be in the form of a figure depicting a natural object/thing such as a tree or a mountain, and animal or bird or depicting a man-made object/thing such as a ball, a toy, a car or a plane. The indicium could also be, and preferably is, in the form of a figure depicting a part of the human body such as the hands, the eyes or the face. It could also be a geometric shape such as a circle or a square. The shape and size of the indicia is not a limiting feature.

It is preferred that each indicium has indentation at a depth which is different from depth of indentation of other indicium. In other words it means that for example, if an indicium has depth of 2 mm, the other indicium has depth of 4 mm.

It is particularly preferred that an indicium corresponding to n+1 ^th use is indented to a greater depth as compared to an indicium corresponding to n ^th use thereof. This would imply, for example, that indicium corresponding to use number 3 is indented to a greater extent as compared to indicia corresponding to use number 2. Thus for example, when the composition is a bar of cleansing composition, it is preferred indicium corresponding to the first use is indented to a depth of 0.4 to 0.8 mm and each subsequent indicium is indented at increments of 0.5 to 1 mm.

There is no particular limitation on the number of indicia which can be present. The number will vary on the shape and size of the composition and the available surface area on the surface of the composition. It could also depend on the shape and size of the indicia. However, it is preferred that the surface of the composition comprises 2 to 30 indicia.

In order to further assist the user and to further aid and educate him to use the product in a better manner, it is preferred that each indicium has a numeral to further indicate the first or successive use. The numeral may be in any language, more preferably Arabic numerals.

While the amount of the composition which needs to be used for each application/use/contact will vary widely depending on the nature and purpose of the composition, it is preferred that each indicium corresponds to usage of 0.1 g to 20 g of the composition. In the case of a bar of cleansing composition, it is preferred that each indicium corresponds to usage of 2 g to 5 g thereof.

It is believed that the indentations provide an indication of use in a direct and constant manner, preferaby by indicating a pre-defined amount of product to be used. Without wishing to be bound to theory, the indicator concept relies on the abrasion movements itself, which directly reflect the use of the product during the washing process, and less relies on indirect phenomena like temperature of the skin, soap or water or the amount of water used or time spent during washing.

Use of a composition of matter for education In a second aspect is disclosed use of a composition of matter for educating a consumer to use recommended quantity of a solid composition by abrasion of a surface thereof, said surface comprising a first visible indicium associated with a first time use of the composition and at least one separate visible indicium associated with a successive use of the composition, where the first visible indicium corresponds to a quantity of composition recommended to be abraded for use of the composition for the first time and each successive visible indicium corresponds to the quantity of the composition recommended to be abraded for each successive use of the composition.

Examples

Further details of the invention will now be explained with reference to the following non-limiting examples.

Example-1 : Tests conducted on a milled and plodded soap bar of FIG.1

Some tests were conducted on bars of soap having net weight of 70 g and dimensions of 7.5 cm (length), 5.0 cm (width) and 1.8 cm (height). The composition of the bars is shown in table 1 .

Table-1

The tests were carried out to find out whether the bar with the features therein was effective enough to educate a consumer using the bar and to correlate usage of the bar with the quantity of soap utilised. The first indicium (containing Arabic numeral 1 ) was indented to depth of 0.6 mm and the others were indented to further depths at increments of 0.75 mm each.

The test method:

The weight of the bars was measured. Average weight was recorded. A panelist was asked to hold one bar in one hand and to wet it with water. The bar was then rubbed back-&-forth (abraded) on the palm of the other hand while keeping the pressure being as constant as possible. The number of times the bar was rubbed on the palm of the other hand was increased for each successive use i.e., for the first use twice, for the second use four times and so on. After each use the bar was dried at 35 °C for five minutes. For consistent wear of the bar, each panelist was instructed to reverse the leading edge of the bar between washes as it was moved down the palm from the fingers on the bar.

After each wash and dry cycle (i.e., which simulated one time use thereof) the bar was weighed as accurately as possible.

The loss in weight was ascertained as the difference in dry weight between a given use and the immediately following use. The overall weight loss was ascertained by finding out the difference between the weight of the bar (before the test) and after the final use.

The average weight loss on account of use by abrasion was found to be 3.4 g and was in the optimal range of 2.7 g to 3.7 g. It was also observed that the indicium gradually disappeared upon use in the order in which they were marked. It was further observed that while the first indicium had disappeared after the first use, the bar had lost 3.4 g (average) weight and with each successive loss in weight of 3.4 g of the bar, the indicium corresponding to the second and the subsequent use had disappeared.

The results indicate the suitability of the preferred soap bar of FIG.1 for use as an educative and informative tool to educate consumers about the recommended manner of use of soap bars for hand-wash and similarly for other applications such as using the bar for a bath.

The data is also represented in tabular form below.

Table -2

At the end of Observation Weight loss from initial weight (W/g) use number

1 First indicium W g minus 3.4 g

disappeared

2 Second indicium W g minus 6.6 g

disappeared

3 Third indicium W g minus 10.0 g

disappeared

4 Fourth indicium W g minus 13.0 g disappeared

5 Fifth indicium W g minus 16.4 g

disappeared

Observation and inference:

The tabular data indicates that the average weight loss (per use) was about 3.4 g which is in the preferred range of 2.7 g to 3.7 g for a single use. The more interesting and important observation is that the indicium served the intended purpose of educating and communicating the recommended method of use to the user. A further important observation is that each indicium corresponded to usage of a more or less constant value of about 3.4 grams of the composition.

The illustrated examples indicate that it is possible to monitor various aspects of consumer behaviour and develop effective intervention strategies and evoking a behaviour change. The illustrated examples meet the needs for products which educate, motivate and inculcate behaviour or rouse a consumer for using product in the recommended manner. The examples provide a simple yet effective method for educating consumers, especially of fast moving consumer goods, to use a product in the recommended manner and especially to use or consume the recommended amount of the product for a first and every successive use.