Piano Information?

[Avery Todd]

List,

    I posted about this piano several years ago but never received any 
replies.
Since there are so many new people on the list now, I thought I'd try again.
I had to tune it the other day and my curiosity was aroused once more.
       The brand name on the fallboard is:

(both u's should have umlauts)  Gebruder Knake
                                                 Munster I/W
                                                   Germany

    There are only 85 keys (stops at A7) and the coverings are the waterfall
type. At the back of the tail there is a brad inserted and on the bottom
ront of the key are 2 brads, visible above the keyslip, all flush with the 
keytop.
    The side arms have brass strips with app. 27 screws on the top piece and
15 on the side piece, shaped to fit the contour of the arm. Each corner of the
keybed also has a separate, small brass piece screwed onto the case. The
tail is not completely rounded but has two edges on it which also has brass
strips attached to them. The music desk is ornately cut out, not solid pieces,
with sections on each side which partially slide out toward the keyboard. The
center of the desk has the shape of a music lyre cut into it.
    The pedal lyre is shaped like a music lyre and has two pedals. The left 
one
is a shift pedal. The legs are the squatty, round, fluted type.
    On the folded back portion of the lid, there is a large round oval cut 
into the
center of the wood and says:

              Made Expressly
                     for
           the Climate of India
                by Order of
       Mssrs. Marcks & Co. Ld.
            Bombay & Poona

    The action has 5 wooden brackets and the keyframe has the cheek blocks
(glued?) installed so that they are not removable and slide out with the
keyframe. On the left side of the keyframe is stamped: R1245
                                                                         DYS 
DYSON & SONS
                                                                             
  CROYDON
he right side has the number 5577 stamped into the frame. Serial #?
    There are no capstans but have the rocker arm type of adjustments
with the front part containing regular screws and the back part containing
slotted type of screws similar to that type of drop screws, except
appreciably larger.
    The jack (tails) are reversed with the let-off screws inside the "wippen",
app. half the length of the shank back toward the hammers.
    Hammer shank flanges are fairly large flat brass, pinned to a 'squarish'
type of hammer butt thing, into which the shanks are glued.
    The plate is more or less standard except the tenor strut by the pinblock
doesn't make a /\ like most plates. (I don't know how to describe it. It's the
area where some manufacturers place the serial and model number.) The
top two treble sections have a removable 'capo' bar similar to that on a
Bosendorfer.
    I'm sorry about the length of this but I wanted to give as many clues as
possible so maybe someone can give me some information about this
instrument. It's in the home of the President of the University of Houston
and I "think" was originally donated by some individual here in Houston
but I haven't been able to find out who.
    Thanks for any help you can give me.

Avery