G'day,
GregB The Itinerari d'Immagini book (which, I forgot to mention, is calle Le Fisarmonische ~ Italian for "The Accordion") has a Mariano Dallape piano-key accordion with 3½ octaves of treble and 112 'Stradella' basses in 7 rows of 16. The museum dates it as "1890 circa" and states that it is "one of the earliest piano-accordions".

However, much earlier than that have a French Busson 'Harmoniflute' from 1855 - 3 2/3 octaves of treble keys - but no bass.

As I said above, the Stradella bass system "finally perfected the French initiative of applying a piano keyboard to the right hand of early accordions" ... and I haven't come across anyone calling it "the San Fransico bass system"! Given the fact that 19th century America was built on systematic and blatant patent and copyright theft ... we may need to question how the Columbo Accordion Co. defines invention.

Rowan: Lachenal hardly had to develop anything to "avoid" Wheatstone's patents ... he had developed all the manufacturing tooling for Wheatstone ... for both the English system and German / Anglo-German / Anglo-chromatic instruments Wheatstones produced before, at the expiry of Wheatstone's 14-year patent, setting up his own business, which differed mainly in the degree to which he used cottage-workers, on the Victorian "Draw and (de)Liver" system to make up components that were then graded and assembled in his factory.

Uhlig's German concertina system was "Anglicised" into "Wheatstone's" hexagonal body by Jones ... in the early 1840s ... but there were already nicely "London-made" 'German concertinas' built in the earlier German rectangular form ... and with more German-style wooden keywork and long plates of reeds... by quite good makers like Henry Harley ... around 1840. These are what popularised the simple and powerful diatonic form and laid the groundwork for Jones / Lachenal and Wheatstone's Anglos.

Regards,

Bob