Mop heads made of polyester wicking fiber

Abstract

The present invention is directed to mop heads which comprise polyester wicking fibers which assist in absorbing, holding, and applying disinfectant/antimicrobial composition without removing the active disinfectant such as quaternary ammonium salts from the composition.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A mop head comprising in part a fluid absorbing and/or wicking polyester staple fiber. 
     
     
         2 . The mop head of  claim 1 , wherein the mop head is a string mop head comprising polyester staple spun yarns 
     
     
         3 . The mop head of  claim 1 , wherein the mop head comprises a fabric. 
     
     
         4 . The mop head of  claim 1 , and having at least 300% liquid absorbency. 
     
     
         5 . The mop head of  claim 3 , wherein the mop head fabric is a nonwoven fabric. 
     
     
         6 . The mop head of  claim 2 , wherein polyester staple spun yarn sinks when laid on water. 
     
     
         7 . The mop head of  claim 1 , comprising in part a polyester staple fiber chosen from the group of fibers consisting of polyethylene terephthalate, polymethylene terephthalate, polybutylene terephthalate, or blends thereof. 
     
     
         8 . The mop head of  claim 7 , wherein said polyester staple fiber is round, non-round, solid, hollow, or porous or bicomponent in cross section, or a mixture of two or more of these. 
     
     
         9 . The mop head of  claim 8 , wherein said non-round fiber is dogbone, oval, trilobal, hexalobal, elliptical, crescent, or with exterior channels in cross section. 
     
     
         10 . The mop head of  claim 7 , wherein said polyester staple fiber is a microfiber. 
     
     
         11 . The mop head of  claim 7  wherein said polyester staple fiber comprises a wicking finish of hydrophilic surfactants, wetting agents, or blends thereof. 
     
     
         12 . The mop head of  claim 11 , wherein said wicking finish comprises nonionic and ionic surfactants and wetting agents 
     
     
         13 . The mop head of  claim 11 , wherein wicking finish comprises in part stearyl alcohol, potassium dihexyl phosphate, 2-ethylhexyl ester, potassium phosphate dibasic, laureth-4 phosphate or blends thereof. 
     
     
         14 . The mop head of  claim 11 , wherein the extractable amount of said wicking finish is about 0.25 to about 2.0 wt. % based on the weight of the wicking fibers. 
     
     
         15 . The mop head of  claim 1 , wherein said wicking polyester staple fibers comprises at least 20 wt. % of the total fibers in the mop head. 
     
     
         16 . The mop head of  claim 15 , wherein 75 wt. % or less of said total fibers are non-wicking polyester fibers. 
     
     
         17 . The mop head of  claim 14 , wherein said total fibers pick-up but do not absorb quaternary ammonium salt compositions. 
     
     
         18 . The mop head of  claim 6 , wherein said wicking polyester staple fibers in the form of yarns sink when laid on water.