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 than air. This fact, he said, was proved by the undoubted truth that everything that could fly—as, for instance, a bird—was heavier than the air itself.
    He also declared that an apparatus directed by a man only would never fly successfully, because it would prove too weak withstand the heavy air current. A man is only able to generate one-half atmospheric horse power, and he can never be able to generate two atmospheric horse power, which Prof. Lillienthal proved was necessary to lift a man weighing 150 pounds. Herr Stentzel found, when he came to consider carefully the weight of each substance that went to make up the total of his machine, that the aggregate weight of them all would sum up 300 pounds. This was the basis on which the new invention was built.
    To secure what is equivalent to one horse-power it is necessary that a pressure of five atmospheres be obtained: and the greater the horse-power, the more capable is the machine of continued locomotion in the air. This is the point, and here, Herr Stentzel says, lies the solution of the prohiem. Can he develop the necessary horse-power, and will his machine respond to the mechanical stimulus is thus receives?
    The inventor mourns, as inventors usually do, the lack of necessary capital to carry on his experiments.
    “After the beginning always comes continuation,” continued Herr Stentzel. “I am sure that there is no limit to the possibilities of my machine. It is just like a growing plant. First you see the shoot above the ground, and then it gradually grows and waxes strong, and presently it begins to extend and branch out and leaves form, and after a while it becomes something of which nature herself is proud.
    “The question is now as to the development of power. It takes a lifting power of seventy-five pounds to enable a machine to fly free in the air. Now what I have to do is to regulate and adjust the different elements of power that they will all act in harmony, and enable me to take my machine and fly, not for five minutes, nor for ten minutes, but for as many hours as I like.
    “It has been my aim to imitate, as near as possible, the bird. You see, I have the wings. Look at them closely. Did you ever see the wing of the bird spread out flat on a smooth surface? Then you have seen a tiny counterpart of the wings of my machine. The wings counterfeited, it remains for me to furnish a substitute for the life, for the power in the bird which drives the wings. I believe that in my motor I have found it.”

From—The Morning Times. (Washington. D.C.). 28 Feb. 1897. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress.