Methods and compositions for treating laundry items
First Claim
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1. A laundry treating appliance having a treating chamber that is rotatable, in which laundry is received for treatment, and a controller programmed to execute an automatic cycle of operation comprising:
- a load detection phase where an amount of laundry within the treating chamber is determined;
a pre-wash phase comprising;
forming a pre-wash mixture comprising water and a color care agent, with an amount of color care agent set according to the amount of laundry determined;
spraying the pre-wash mixture into the treating chamber to wet laundry in the treating chamber; and
controlling at least one of the forming of the pre-wash or the spraying to uniformly wet the laundry with an even coverage of color care agent, without oversaturating of the color care agent; and
a wash phase, following the pre-wash phase, comprising;
forming a wash mixture comprising water and detergent;
supplying the wash mixture to the treating chamber; and
applying mechanical energy to the laundry; and
wherein the pre-wash phase covers the laundry with the color care agent to protect the laundry from dyes released during the wash phase.
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Abstract
A laundry treating appliance having a rotatable treating chamber in which laundry is received for treatment, and a controller programmed to execute an automatic cycle of operation that includes spraying a pre-wash mixture comprising water and a color care agent onto the laundry to cover the laundry with the color care agent to protect the laundry from dyes released from the laundry during the wash phase.
175 Citations
29 Claims
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1. A laundry treating appliance having a treating chamber that is rotatable, in which laundry is received for treatment, and a controller programmed to execute an automatic cycle of operation comprising:
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a load detection phase where an amount of laundry within the treating chamber is determined; a pre-wash phase comprising; forming a pre-wash mixture comprising water and a color care agent, with an amount of color care agent set according to the amount of laundry determined; spraying the pre-wash mixture into the treating chamber to wet laundry in the treating chamber; and controlling at least one of the forming of the pre-wash or the spraying to uniformly wet the laundry with an even coverage of color care agent, without oversaturating of the color care agent; and a wash phase, following the pre-wash phase, comprising; forming a wash mixture comprising water and detergent; supplying the wash mixture to the treating chamber; and applying mechanical energy to the laundry; and wherein the pre-wash phase covers the laundry with the color care agent to protect the laundry from dyes released during the wash phase. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29)
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13. The laundry treating appliance wherein dosing a portion comprises repeatedly dosing micro-doses of the total dose of the color care agent.
Specification