Right on, Dan!
It's a fascinating idea and of course, engineers go through many ideas mentally pie-in-the-sky, on paper and prototype some. Sure, they could have had Electrolux or Royal run something up for them in the nature of an add-on but with an in-house R&D department why not something original and patentable?
Just look at Jack's DYSON memorabilia - prototypes start out clunky until they are refined and 'smaller-ized' for production.
The tall handle cylinder probably seemed like a great idea on paper, keeping the cord flat, tangle-free and spiral wound. It may even have an integrated cord guide that travels up and down the cylinder to keep the windings even, like Singer's reciprocating shuttle bobbin winder that guided the thread evenly side to side through precision worm gearing.
Who wouldn't want to be the caretaker of such a one-of-a-kind piece of history?
Dave
)
