Surrey Machinists' Co 'the invincible' safety bicycle

Surrey Machinists made high quality ordinaries and they did so with their safeties.
While Rover, Humber, CMC and more choose the diamond frame for their safeties, Surrey Machinists built the cross frame, introduced by Hillman Herbert & Cooper in 1886
The 1887 catalogue showed a quite traditional cross frame, but in the collection of the Coventry Transport Museum is this unique model. Of course it has the lightweight hollow rims for which they were famous. It has a wonderful brake - not really lightweight. But the specialty: It has a single rear stay AND a single leg front 'fork'. A rare and vulnerable construction. Although it wasn't completely new, look at the Coventry Spider of 1871, built by CMC. 

I found a racer with this frame in an advertisement of 1888, source unknown. It has a ball head there, while the example in the museum has a pivot head. To see the ad and more pictures: click on the photo below.