After the success of the Rover safety bicycle in 1885, other producers hurried to make their own rear wheel driven safeties.
Hillman Herbert and Cooper, at the time one of the best selling factories of ordinaries, was the first to introduce the cross frame. Here we see an original unrestored cross frame of the first model of HH&C, as it showed up in 2017.
At the moment the Velorama museum in Nijmegen (Netherlands) is restoring it.
The model was also copied (or just sold with another badge) as the first Peugeot safety bicycle in France: they used the same illustration in their 1886 catalogue.
Many other makers copied the cross frame design.
Click the picture below to see more pictures of the early cross frame and the original HH&C patent drawing.