Melville Reuben Bissell (September 25, 1843 – March 15, 1889) was an American entrepreneur who invented the modern carpet sweeper.Baxter, Albert (1891). ''History of the City of Grand Rapids, Michigan.'' Munsell The Bissell corporation is named after him.

Life and career

Bissell was born in Hartwick, New York, and grew up in

Berlin, Wisconsin Berlin is a city in Green Lake and Waushara counties in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The population was 5,571 at the 2020 census. Of this, 5,435 were in Green Lake County, and only 89 were in Waushara County. The city is located mostly within t ...

. As a young adult, he opened a

grocery store A grocery store ( AE), grocery shop ( BE) or simply grocery is a store that primarily retails a general range of food products, which may be fresh or packaged. In everyday U.S. usage, however, "grocery store" is a synonym for supermarket, a ...

in 1862 with his father, Alpheus, in Kalamazoo, Michigan, selling it in 1869 and opening a crockery and glassware store in

Grand Rapids, Michigan Grand Rapids is a city and county seat of Kent County in the U.S. state of Michigan. At the 2020 census, the city had a population of 198,917 which ranks it as the second most-populated city in the state after Detroit. Grand Rapids is the ...

, in 1870. He made money manufacturing

crockery Tableware is any dish or dishware used for setting a table, serving food, and dining. It includes cutlery, glassware, serving dishes, and other items for practical as well as decorative purposes. The quality, nature, variety and number of obj ...

and investing in real estate. Following the financial

Panic of 1873 The Panic of 1873 was a financial crisis that triggered an economic depression in Europe and North America that lasted from 1873 to 1877 or 1879 in France and in Britain. In Britain, the Panic started two decades of stagnation known as the ...

and the following economic depression, Bissell began working on a carpet sweeper. In 1876 Bissell patented a sweeper with a central brush, rubber wheels, and other improvements over previous sweepers. A fire in 1884 destroyed his first factory, but he was able to overcome the loss and still later expand his business. Following his death from

pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severi ...

in 1889 in Grand Rapids, his wife, Anna Bissell, took control of the company, becoming America's first female corporate chief executive officer.Krismann, Carol (2005). Anna Bissell, In ''Encyclopedia Of American Women in Business: From Colonial Times To The Present, Volume 1.'' Greenwood Publishing Group,

References

External links

Our History
via Bissell 1843 births 1889 deaths American manufacturing businesspeople People from Hartwick, New York 19th-century American businesspeople Engineers from New York (state) {{US-business-bio-1840s-stub