Time traveling

The technological appliances in time traveling are still quite a new invention. Up until the Digital revolution in the later part of 20th century, the only means to time travel had been magical. Of course there had been lot of discussion since the ancient times about a machine which could aid in time travel, be it something a kin to a horse drawn cart, train or a blue telephone box. When the electricity was invented and the ways to harvest it became more reliable, more prototypes of a real time machine were created. Most of the inventions were so absurd that they failed to work, but some got very close, so close that the huge risks of time traveling holds were recognized for the first time.
Time traveling by magic had always been dependable on magical items or inborn abilities, thus having been limited to use of the selected few. Its use had been easier to control and regulate, and many were rightfully afraid that producing a time machine which would give the non-magical and untaught masses the rare ability to travel through time would cause such a whirlpool in time that all the existence could collapse on itself. Although, a machine would finally make people equal and broke the old boundaries many deemed unnecessary and nepotism. This was why the opinions about building a time machine were highly conflicted. With such invention one could possibly do a lot of good, but also if such technology would end up in the wrong hands things would go very wrong.
There were prototypes of time machine since at least from Victorian times, but they were more of curiosities than real working machines, and still often imbued with magic instead of technology. These older prototypes might have not worked correctly, but they paved way for what was to come. The Royal Society Publishing and the scientists and engineers working there were given the honor of having been produced the first correctly working prototype which did not just electrocute people but actually could transform them back in time. After decades of tests and tens of updated versions later, a Time Machine, also nicknamed 'Muriel', was finally ready for production in the early 1990's.
Timetraveling by machine does cause different kind hiccups than with magic. Traveling by magic only tends to be smoother for the user, if they use their own abilities and their inner flow has been synchronized with the spell. Timetraveling by machines can cause more physical and mental problems, like dizziness and motion sickness, but those who travel by machine are far less likely to contract severe Time Sickness as there are fewer things which can go wrong than in casting a spell.

This article tells more about the technological side of time traveling. See Time traveling for the magical side of the same phenomena.

Inventor(s)

The Timetraveling Department of The Royal Society Publishing in London

Discovery

For one small snippet of how the first working prototype of a time machine was made, see Revolutions of Time Travel.