THE MORNING TIMES — FEBRUARY 28, 1897
Berlin. Feb. 27.—Herr Arthur Stentzel, of Altona, believes he has solved the problem of aerial navigation. It has long been the ann of the flying machine enthusiast to construct something that would practically be the prototype of a bird. Therein, it has been firmly believed, lies the secret of locomotion through the air. It Is on this principle that Herr Stentzel has constructed his machine. Its two great sections resemble the wings of a gigantic bird. With them the inventor declares that he can move through the air for four or five minutes and alight without injury.
At first the Stentzel machine gives the impression that it is like that which made Prof. Lillienthal famous. But the beauty of this machine is, according to the best of authority, that it can really fly, and this, too, without breaking the bones of the adventurous mortal who trusts himself to it.
The wings of the Stentzel machine have a spread of about seven yards, and their surface is eight and two-fifths yards, all told. They move through an angle of seventy degrees, and are curved according to a parabola in a proportion of one to twelve. Compressed carbonic acid gas is employed as a motive agent, and the machine is driven by an engine also of Herr Stentzel’s invention. The speed of the engine can be readily controlled so that the machine can fly at varying velocities Herr Stentzel’s theory, upon which his machine is really based, is practically that of Nadar, who insisted that a body to be able to fly must be heavier
