David T. Kenney (APRIL 3, 1866 - MAY 26?, 1922) The inventor Kenney’s nine patents, granted between 1903 and 1913, applicable to both machine-driven and manual vacuum cleaners, dominated the vacuum cleaner industry in the United States until the 1920s. Image File history File links Broom_icon. ... 1866 (MDCCCLXVI) is a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar or a common year starting on Wednesday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar. ... Year 1922 (MCMXXII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... For other uses, see Inventor (disambiguation). ... A patent is a set of exclusive rights granted by a government to an inventor or applicant for a limited amount of time (normally maximum 20 years from the filing date, depending on extension). ... Efforts to use suction to remove dirt from carpets began in the second half of the 19th century, when patents were granted to inventors in the United States, England, France, and elsewhere. ...

Early life

Born to Irish immigrants, Kenney was apprenticed at age 15 to a plumber. In 1891 he began his own plumbing business in Plainfield, New Jersey and gained patents for flush toilets. From 1896 to his death he maintained offices in New York City. His businesses operated under the names Kenney Manufacturing Company and later Vacuum Cleaner Company in New York and Jersey Vacuum Cleaner Company in Newark. Kenney's first vacuum cleaner installation was in the building of Henry Clay Frick in Pittsburgh in 1902. Its stationary 4,000 lb. steam engine powered pipes and hoses reaching into all parts of the building. In 1906 his company claimed to have installed electric vacuum cleaning systems in the White House, the Times building, and elsewhere. Map of Plainfield in Union County Plainfield is a City in Union County, New Jersey, United States. ... Close coupled cistern type flushing toilet. ... Nickname: Map of Newark in Essex County County Essex Founded/Incorporated 1666/1836 Government  - Mayor Cory Booker, term of office 2006–2010 Area [1]  - City 67. ... Regular vacuum cleaner for home use. ... Henry Clay Frick Henry Clay Frick (December 19, 1849 – December 2, 1919) was an American industrialist and art patron. ... 1902 (MCMII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... For other uses, see White House (disambiguation). ...

Career

Kenney's most significant patent was granted in March 1907. He had filed the application in 1901, when the notion of an electrically powered cleaner was only beginning to be seen as a possibility. A Savannah woman, Corinne Dufour, who had a year earlier received a patent for an "Electric Carpet Sweeper and Dust Gatherer" whose motor was designed to operate a suction-fan, also is a forgotten figure. Kenney purchased one of the English inventor H. Cecil Booth's vacuum cleaners, and after the 1907 patent was granted, Booth withdrew his own application for a US patent. Litigation followed, and the Vacuum Cleaner Company as the holder of Kenney’s patents, was a party to several lawsuits in subsequent years. When the Vacuum Cleaner Manufacturers' Association was formed in 1919, its membership was entirely made up of licensees under the Kenney patents, "the basic vacuum cleaner patents." Though most such cleaners by this time were electric, they still depended on the mechanism devised and patented by him - the opening in the nozzle sealing contact with the carpet through a vacuum. Savannah may refer to: Four cities in the United States: Savannah, Georgia, a city known for its historic district Savannah River, which flows past the Georgia city Savannah River Site, a nuclear facility near Augusta, Georgia, upriver from Savannah Savannah, Missouri Savannah, New York Savannah, Tennessee sav is so awesome... Canister vacuum cleaner A vacuum cleaner is a device that uses an air pump to create a vacuum to suck up dust and dirt, usually from carpeted floors. ...

Legacy

With the wealth derived from his patents, Kenney became a benefactor of Catholic institutions, particularly Mount St. Mary's Academy in North Plainfield and was named a Papal Chamberlain in 1906. He was a prominent citizen of his community, and served on various boards in New Jersey. His last invention, patented in 1920, was for a heating system designed to improve the distribution of heat from a wood-burning fireplace. Booth's name appears in British reference works, and the vacuum cleaners he invented and manufactured are held in London's Science Museum. Kenney's name is not found in corresponding American reference books, nor his machines in the Smithsonian Institution or other major collections. David Kenney committed suicide in 1922 after being in ill health himself and losing his wife and a sister. North Plainfield is a borough located in Somerset County, New Jersey. ... Papal chamberlain (Cameriere di spada e cappa) is one of the highest honours that can be bestowed on a Catholic layman by the Pope, and is often given to members of noble families. ... Winter (fireplace), tacuinum sanitatis casanatensis (XIV century) A fireplace is an architectural element consisting of a space designed to contain a fire, generally for heating but sometimes also for cooking. ... The Smithsonian Institution Building or Castle on the National Mall serves as the Institutions headquarters. ...

Sources

• Hoover Historical Center, 1875 East Maple Street, North Canton, OH 44720-3331
• Lifshey, Earl. The Housewares Story: A History of the American Housewares Industry. Chicago: National Housewares Manufacturers Association, 1973
• New York Times, 12/8/42 (Thomas Ewing obituary)
• Plainfield (NJ) Courier-News, 6/5/22 (Kenney obituary)
• Smiley, F.T. History of Plainfield and North Plainfield. Plainfield, NJ: The Plainfield Courier-News, 1901
• Strasser, Susan. Never Done: A History of American Housework. New York: Pantheon,1982. p. 79
• U.S. Federal Trade Commission. Report on the House Furnishings Industry. 1925