A tinkerer at heart, he set his mind to making an electric carpet sweeper. The device was patented as the Bissell Carpet Sweeper in 1876. The vacuum cleaner evolved from the carpet sweeper via manual vacuum cleaners. A carpet sweeper typically consists of a small box. He went to New York City and took a job with a carpet sweeper company. A carpet sweeper is a mechanical device for the cleaning of carpets. Kenyon designed the first Ewbank branded carpet sweeper, which went on sale in 1889.