Is this the world's first recumbent? The patent is from 1902 and is for what is quite clearly a very laid back bike. Another design drawing, patented in 1907 shows that in these early(ish) days of cycling a lot of different and radical ideas were being tried.

These days we only really tend to see tweaks of designs that have been on the go for some time, and radical departures tend to be oddities more than genuine progress (witness the 'sideways' bike).

The 'standard' upright bike is probably a design which will continue to rule the roost, but those who are fans of bents, or folders, for example, would liken the dominance of the standard diamond frame to the VHS/Betamax battle of the 80s.

Although it is hopefully unlikely that 'non-standard' designs will go quite the way of the vanquished video format.