MELVILLE BISSELL - Carpet Sweeper

On This Day in 1876

DOMESTIC HISTORY WAS made when Melville R. Bissell patented the first practical carpet sweeper. Mr. Bissell, who owned a china shop in Grand Rapids, Michigan, was a martyr to headaches. These turned out to be caused by an allergy to dust from straw used to pack crockery. To clean the floor properly and remove all the dust, Mr. Bissell invented a sweeper with a brush roller on springs. The sweepers were assembled by the couple, who formed the Bissell Carpet Sweeper Company.

Homemaker trivia.