Hi Kevin.
Now we come to the major mystery question of the Cord Winder. Why is this a mystery? because somewhere in my files is a patent for a 1920's upright Air-Way, and clearly shown is a 'cord reel' laying on the floor. So like with the combination rug/floor tool possibly being a General Electric design, the credit for the Electrolux cord winder might easily go to Air-Way, but I'll leave that one to my friend, Tom Gasko, and the other Air-Way experts out there in Vacuumland. Another interesting point about Air-Way, they were the first company to introduce the disposable bag. The year for that was 1920.
What I do know is that this was NOT manufactured at the Electrolux factory in Old Greenwich, Connecticut! Being that the factory was located in a residential area, no rubber parts were made there, but were farmed out. The actual cord, and the cords for most vacuum cleaner companies was made by 'Belden,' located in Chicago. As for the cord reel, that was also farmed out and assembled at the 'Vacuum Cleaner Corporation,' Philadelphia, Pa..
The Cord Winder is an optional tool that became standard equipment with I think the model G, and continues today, but one shown here was introduced in 1948.
