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.
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