GregB reminded me of a conundrum that I've long thought about but never had the time to really explore. I play concertina and melodeon and am aware of the origins of the concertina. It struck me as odd but understandable that Wheatstone developed a unique keyboard layout for his Symphonium and then his original concertina. It's also understandable that Lachenal avoided patent legalities by modifying melodeon layout for his original (but later) concertina keyboard.

Given that what we now call the piano keyboard predated all the bellows-powered free reed instruments by some centuries, why did it take them so long to get a piano keyboard version popularised. I know piano keyboards appeared on variously named bellows powered lap organs prior to Queen Vi' shuffling off the mortal coil (1901) but you'd reckon the layout for an accordion type of instrument would have been first cab off the rank. Why not?

Cheers, Rowan