Our history

A Simple Start: Spilled Sawdust...

Like a lot of well-intentioned people who plan on having a relaxing Saturday, we didn’t really mean to start cleaning—it just happened. In 1876, Melville R. Bissell and his wife, Anna, were running a small crockery shop in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Sick of constantly cleaning sawdust off the shop's carpet, Melville invented and patented a one-of-a-kind sweeper. It didn't take long for friends and customers at the shop to ask about buying the sweeper, and when they did, a new business was born.

Melville Bissell

A Woman's World: America's First Female CEO

When Melville passed away in 1889, there was no question who would take the reins at BISSELL®. Anna stepped in, making her the first female CEO in America. Anna aggressively defended the company’s patents while also
marketing sweepers across North America and Europe. It didn't take long for BISSELL® to get its first famous fan, Queen Victoria, who insisted her palace be “Bisselled” every week. We like to think the palace attendants were also fans,
loving the free time they had thanks to how easy the BISSELL sweeper made cleaning up royal messes.

Say Goodbye To Chores… Sort Of

Once we knew we could handle a palace, we decided to try our hand at something else. In 1956, we rolled out the manural carpet shampooer, making the chore of scrubbing carpets on your hands and knees virtually disappear (you owe us one, Cinderella). One year later, our products started winning awards. In 1957, the Shampoo Master won the Bachner Award for Achievement for practical application of molded and formed plastics. By the end of the 60s we were a jack of all surfaces, changing the way people clean. We were the first to offer a Vac/Floor Scrubber, Dry Powder Rug Shampoo and Applicator, and the Gemini Sweeper, which as its name suggest, was the first two-brush sweeper.

Clean Goes Deeper

In 1979, we made magic by introducing the first BISSELL carpet deep cleaning machine, making it easy to get rid of dirty carpet. Then, in the late 1980s, while the New Kids on the Block were busy singing “Hangin’ Tough,” we did the opposite, keeping with the theme of making things easy. We introduced the BISSELL SC, our first deep cleaner that wasn’t attached to a water source. This machine made deep cleaning carpets more effective and convenient than it was before. Of course, we didn’t stop there. In the years to come, we rolled out things like the BISSELL Big Green Clean Machine® and the PowerGroom®, marking the first BISSELL-branded upright vacuum.

Things Get a Bit Hairy

In a good way! Early in the 2000s, we really noticed the love we at BISSELL® had for pets when we realized 72% of us were pet owners! Even though there are so many things we love about our pet, we know keeping our homes tidy isn't always at the top of their minds. When we found out that stopped many would-be pet adopters, we knew it was up to us to do something. So we did. In 2001, we teamed up with Petfinder.com, for our adoption efforts.

In 2005, we launched the SpotBot® portable deep cleaner, our first product designed specifically for tackling pet messes. Under Cathy Bissell’s leadership, we continued expanding our support for pets and the people who love them. In 2011, Cathy founded BISSELL Pet Foundation®, a nonprofit dedicated to ending pet homelessness and creating better outcomes for pets across the country.

Since its founding, BISSELL Pet Foundation has invested more than $54 million in animal welfare initiatives, supporting adoption, spay/neuter, vaccinations, microchipping, emergency response and other critical resources for shelters, rescues and underserved communities. Through this work, the Foundation helps reduce the number of pets entering and remaining in shelters while giving more animals the opportunity to find loving homes.