1 Anna Bissell was tired of sweeping. Day after day,
shipments of porcelain dishware would arrive at Anna and
her husband Melville’s crockery shop in Grand Rapids,
Michigan, each item packed tightly in sawdust. It seemed
that no matter how carefully Anna unpacked the dishware,
sawdust would inevitably spill onto the carpet, and during
the hustle and bustle of the workday, the fine wood
particles would work their way deep into the 2 carpets
fiber’s. The year was 1876, and the electric vacuum cleaner
was the stuff of fantasy—Anna’s shop was illuminated
by candlelight, and her carpets were swept clean with a
wooden broom.
Melville thought he had solved his wife’s problem
when he purchased a carpet sweeper. This mechanical
device was somewhat of an improvement over 3 Anna; it
used wheels to turn a brush that dug into the fibers of the
carpet, driving 4 dirt and dust upward. But Melville soon
realized that the device could be improved upon. In a room
above the crockery shop, he dreamed up a better carpet
sweeper. Melville’s sweeper used an improved gear train
to drive a soft brush. Its springy bristles bent slightly as
they dug into the carpet fibers, flicking debris up into the
sweeper’s receptacle. 5
The entrepreneurial couple quickly realized the
potential held by Melville’s improved carpet sweeper. True
business partners in every sense of the word, 6 the work
the couple did together turned his invention into a business.
Melville oversaw a small team of workers who assembled
his carpet sweepers, while Anna acted as salesperson, 7
persuading stores to carry the Bissell carpet sweeper.
By the late 1880’s, the Bissells presided over a carpet
sweeping empire. Tragedy struck unexpectedly, 8 in
addition, when Melville 9 yielded to pneumonia in 1889.
Anna channeled her grief into hard work. In a time when
women in America still lacked the right to vote 10
and when the participation of women in the workplace
held steady at 15 percent, Anna turned her nose up at
society’s expectations and took over as CEO of the Bissell
corporation.
During her thirty-year tenure as CEO, Anna continued
to turn tradition on its head, introducing progressive labor
practices such as workmen’s compensation and pension
plans. Anna’s kindhearted policies earned the loyalty of
her workers and helped the Bissell Corporation to become
the largest carpet-cleaning corporation in the world. Upon
Bissell’s death, a newspaper obituary 11 memorialized
her as, “a business executive without peer, a respected and
beloved philanthropist, and a true matriarch in her family.”
shipments of porcelain dishware would arrive at Anna and
her husband Melville’s crockery shop in Grand Rapids,
Michigan, each item packed tightly in sawdust. It seemed
that no matter how carefully Anna unpacked the dishware,
sawdust would inevitably spill onto the carpet, and during
the hustle and bustle of the workday, the fine wood
particles would work their way deep into the 2 carpets
fiber’s. The year was 1876, and the electric vacuum cleaner
was the stuff of fantasy—Anna’s shop was illuminated
by candlelight, and her carpets were swept clean with a
wooden broom.
Melville thought he had solved his wife’s problem
when he purchased a carpet sweeper. This mechanical
device was somewhat of an improvement over 3 Anna; it
used wheels to turn a brush that dug into the fibers of the
carpet, driving 4 dirt and dust upward. But Melville soon
realized that the device could be improved upon. In a room
above the crockery shop, he dreamed up a better carpet
sweeper. Melville’s sweeper used an improved gear train
to drive a soft brush. Its springy bristles bent slightly as
they dug into the carpet fibers, flicking debris up into the
sweeper’s receptacle. 5
The entrepreneurial couple quickly realized the
potential held by Melville’s improved carpet sweeper. True
business partners in every sense of the word, 6 the work
the couple did together turned his invention into a business.
Melville oversaw a small team of workers who assembled
his carpet sweepers, while Anna acted as salesperson, 7
persuading stores to carry the Bissell carpet sweeper.
By the late 1880’s, the Bissells presided over a carpet
sweeping empire. Tragedy struck unexpectedly, 8 in
addition, when Melville 9 yielded to pneumonia in 1889.
Anna channeled her grief into hard work. In a time when
women in America still lacked the right to vote 10
and when the participation of women in the workplace
held steady at 15 percent, Anna turned her nose up at
society’s expectations and took over as CEO of the Bissell
corporation.
During her thirty-year tenure as CEO, Anna continued
to turn tradition on its head, introducing progressive labor
practices such as workmen’s compensation and pension
plans. Anna’s kindhearted policies earned the loyalty of
her workers and helped the Bissell Corporation to become
the largest carpet-cleaning corporation in the world. Upon
Bissell’s death, a newspaper obituary 11 memorialized
her as, “a business executive without peer, a respected and
beloved philanthropist, and a true matriarch in her family.”