[azernik]

You also see the same thing in bicycles (some very major features of a bike like which wheel was driven, whether the wheels were the same size, etc. varied wildly in the late 19th century), infantry weapons (assault rifles haven't fundamentally changed since the 60s), and commercial airliners (these days they're all engine-under-the-wing, cruciform tailplane, tricycle landing gear, and the like, but in the early days there was a lot more variety of shape).