Carpet sweeper

miniature carpet sweeper
© F H Powell 2010

Today some may view the carpet sweeper as a little old fashioned given the multitude of vacuum cleaners available. But for many the hand pushed carpet sweeper is still as useful as the day it was invented back in 1876. A US patent was issued to Melville Bissell on 19th September 1876 for the invention of the carpet sweeper. However, the carpet sweeper invented by Bissell was not originally intended for public distribution. Bissell ran a crockery and china shop in Grand Rapids, Michigan with his wife Anna and the sawdust from the packing materials caused his wife health problems. So Bissell hit on the idea of a sealed box with rotating brushes inside that would sweep the dust off the floor and contain it.

The marketing potential of his sweeper soon became evident and production of the sweeper got underway in a storeroom over the shop. The making of the cases and brushes were subcontracted out to home workers and were collected by Anna for assembly at the store. Anna was also the salesperson for the sweepers by door-to-door selling at $1.50 per machine. By 1883 demand for the sweepers had grown sufficiently for the Bissell’s to open their first manufacturing plant, but sadly only 3 years later Melville Bissell died, aged only 46. Anna took over the running of the company, which continued to grow and she served as president or chairman until her death in 1934.

So although the humble carpet sweeper is approaching it’s 134th birthday we bet many of the readers of this article can still lay claim to one! We have a very limited stock of 1:12th and 1:24th on our web shop to accessorise your dolls house.