One of the early key items of sf Terminology, first used by H G Wells in the title of The Time Machine (1895). It is, of course, a machine designed for Time Travel. Following Wells's lead, the second time machine in English-language fiction appears to be the Outlandish Watch of Lewis Carroll's Sylvie and Bruno (1889). Both were however preceded, in Spanish, by Enrique Gaspar's "El anachronópete" (in Novelas, coll 1887; trans as The Time Ship: A Chrononautical Journey 2012). Iconic time machines include the Victorian-technology design in the film The Time Machine (1960) and the once-surprising UK police telephone box which is the outward disguise of the TARDIS in Doctor Who (1963-current). With an eye to practical convenience, many later sf writers prefer a wearable time machine – typically in belt form as in the movie Dimension 5 (1966), Robert Silverberg's Up the Line (1969), David Gerrold's The Man Who Folded Himself (1973) and Phyllis Eisenstein's Shadow of Earth (1979); the latter belt-machine effects sideways travel into an Alternate History.
More passive forms of time machine, which do not actually transport their users forwards, backwards or sideways in Time, are the Time Viewer used (most often) by the future to spy on the past, and the Time Radio with which the future may attempt to communicate with the past. [PN/DRL]
see also: Alfred Jarry; Timeslip.
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