As with so many things, "very early" can mean different things to different folks. Carillon Park in Dayton, OH has an ~1898 Davis Sewing Machines of Dayton triplet with handsome steel (forged?) cotterless cranks. I had bought that bike decades ago at an upstate NY garage sale, decided that I just didn't have the resources to restore it, and sold it to Carillon. Some wonderful volunteers did a beautiful restoration.
There was an enormous amount of innovation in that era, before the "dark ages" of Cycling when the flame all but went out.
harvey sachs
mcLean va