BISSELL HISTORY
BISSELL's goal is to help you improve the ways you take care of your home, right down to the microscopic irritants. Since 1876, we've spent years developing cleaning tools and formulas designed to keep your living environment up to the highest standards.
In the mid-1800s, Anna and Melville Bissell owned a small crockery shop in Grand Rapids, Michigan. While cleaning up after the day's work, Anna often became frustrated with the sawdust that was embedded in the carpet. The tiny, stubborn particles clung to the carpet, and trying to sweep them up was becoming a time-consuming nuisance.
Anna presented the problem to Melville, her mechanically inclined husband. Melville designed and constructed a carpet sweeper machine that he hoped would solve the problem once and for all.
His ingenious design was a success, and word of Melville Bissell's carpet sweeper spread quickly. People soon began asking where they could purchase a sweeper for themselves.
The BISSELL Carpet Sweeper was patented in 1876, and in 1883 the first BISSELL manufacturing plant was built in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Following Melville Bissell's untimely death in 1889, Anna Bissell stepped in and confidently took control of the company, becoming America's first female corporate CEO.
Under Anna's aggressive and innovative management, BISSELL soon began to look in new directions in product development and to expand their business to include all the continents of the world.
As lifestyles changed, the company introduced products that helped people clean better while saving time. In the 1950's BISSELL invented a new multi-purpose formula and shampooer that reduced the time and drudgery of carpet cleaning. To meet the growth of smaller living spaces, BISSELL introduced practical, lightweight cleaners that people could use quickly and store easily. And BISSELL made deep cleaning (once the exclusive domain of commercial providers) available to everyone, including current carpet deep cleaners that feature a built-in heater to optimize performance. Even though the dust is now somewhat settled, BISSELL remains focused on the future.
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