inc. type private corporation genre home care founded 1876 ; 140 years ago 1876 founder melville bissell headquarters walker michigan key people mark j. bissell president products vacuum cleaners and other floorcare products revenue 800 million 2008 number of employees 2 500 website http www.bissell.com footnotes references 1 2 bissell inc. also known as bissell homecare is a privately owned vacuum cleaner and floor care product manufacturing corporation headquartered in walker michigan in greater grand rapids . 3 4 the company is the number one manufacturer of floor care products in north america in terms of sales with 20 % marketshare . 5 contents 1 company history 2 today 3 bissell pro cycling team 4 references 5 external links company history edit melville bissell developed an early carpet sweeping machine to aid in cleaning the crockery shop he and his wife anna owned and operated . the device was patented as the bissell carpet sweeper in 1876 . in 1883 bissell built the company s first manufacturing plant in grand rapids . 6 by the 1890s the company had an international presence and was producing 1000 sweepers per day . 7 melville bissell died in 1889 and his wife anna took over as leader of the company . she served as the company president from 1889 1919 and chair of the board from 1919 1934 . 8 over the years the company expanded from manufacturing only mechanical sweepers to producing vacuum cleaners and carpet shampooers . 6 today edit in 2004 the company acquired a license for the woolite trademark for all carpet and upholstery cleaning formulas for 62 million . it has also moved into the pet care industry manufacturing attachments and solutions designed specifically for cleaning up pet hair and stains . whereas other competitors saw sales decline by numerous percentage points during the economic downturn bissell s sales remained steady . 2 in 2009 they outpaced hoover to take the number one position for floor care sales in north america . 5 bissell pro cycling team edit main article bissell cycling team bissell inc. is the title sponsor for the bissell pro cycling team . 9 references edit bissell inc. . funding universe . retrieved 6 april 2010 . a b schroder gary april 17 2009 . bissell launches smart details line of brooms brushes and dusters . the grand rapids press . retrieved 5 april 2010 . street map . archive city of walker . retrieved on december 25 2012 . the headquarters of bissell inc. are at b4 labeled as bissell contact us . bissell inc. retrieved on december 25 2012 . 2345 walker ave nw grand rapids mi 49544 a b crawley nancy january 31 2010 . success of bissell is model for succeeding in michigan instead of abandoning state . the grand rapids press . retrieved 5 april 2010 . a b our history . bissell . retrieved 5 april 2010 . schorman rob 2008 . claude hopkins earnest calkins bissell carpet sweepers and the birth of modern advertising . journal of the guilded age and progressive era . 7.2 . history of the bissell carpet sweeper . kent county michigan genweb project . retrieved 5 april 2010 . rogers neal february 11 2008 . road warriors bissell takes on title sponsor role . velonews . retrieved 6 april 2010 . external links edit michigan portal companies portal official website melville and anna bissell a transcript from the engines of our ingenuity radio show retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title bissell & oldid 703468568 categories companies based in kent county michiganprivately held companies based in michigancompanies established in 1883vacuum cleaner manufacturershidden categories pages using infobox company with unsupported parameters navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages esperanto edit links this page was last modified on 5 february 2016 at 18 46 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit organization . privacy policy about wikipedia disclaimers contact wikipedia developers cookie statement mobile view