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.
In 1901, he had submitted an application for an electrically powered cleaner, which was still a relatively new idea at the time. A woman from Savannah, Corinne Dufour, who had patented an "Electric Carpet Sweeper and Dust Gatherer" just the previous year with a motor designed to operate a suction-fan, is also often overlooked. Kenney bought one of H. Cecil Booth's vacuum cleaners, and after receiving his patent in 1907, Booth withdrew his own application for a US patent.