The Hungarian mathematician, Paul von Jankó developed an alternate layout to the traditional piano keyboard. In July 1888, upon seeing a performance in London by John Carlowitz Ames, The Musical Times reported:

The clever idea, which suggested itself to the inventor as a means for overcoming the difficulty of stretching long intervals on the pianoforte (his own fingers being uncommonly short), certainly presents many advantages, notwithstanding an awkwardness natural at the outset to learner who have already played upon the ordinary keyboard.

The keys are arranged in four rows immediately adjacent to each other so that all can be played on simultaneously by both hands. The fingering is essentially strange, but to compensate for this is precisely the same or every scale, no matter what key. The most difficult stretches and ‘extensions’ may be accomplished with ease, such things as chromatic sixths and octaves and quick passages in chords here becoming comparitive trifles to the player. For intance, Mr. Ames performed Chopin’s E flat Etude on arpeggios without needing to alter in the slightest the normal position of the hand.

Altogether, the new keyboard possesses utility as well as interest, and though it may never replace the old one, we are prepared to see it taken up to a certain extent by musicians in this country.

Cited in: Scholes, Percy (1947) The Mirror of Music. London: Novello and Company, vol. 1, p.303.