"The object of my invention adapt it to sweeping carpets and floors with uneven surfaces..."
Melville Bissell
In the nineteenth century, the large Turkish or Axminster carpets that covered floors were not easily cleaned. They had to be taken outside and beaten vigorously with a rug beater to remove the dust.
American Melville Bissell (1843-1889) and his wife Anna noticed that the dust in their carpets irritated her and adversely affected his health. To alleviate the dust problem, Melville designed a long-handled carpet sweeper with rotating bristles that bent as they scooped up dirt from a carpet, then flicked it into a compartment Inside the device. The rotation was powered by the sweeper's movement across the floor, and the head could be adjusted to clean bare floors, carpets, rugs, and uneven surfaces.
News of the Bissell sweeper spread. Local women began to manufacture the bristles at home and the sweepers were assembled in the shop before being sold door-to-door. He patented his design in 1876 and opened his first manufacturing plant in Grand Rapids in 1883 The company expanded internationally and had its big break in Britain after Queen Victoria allowed her palace carpets to be "Bisselled."
The advent of the home electrical vacuum cleaner saw sales of carpet sweepers gradually decline and the Bissell sweeper, although still available today as a rechargeable, motorized variant, has been relegated to something of a novelty item.
