The Fourth-Dimensional Demonstrator

by Murray Leinster

Release: December 1935
Format: Short Story
Genres: Science Fiction, Comedy
Audience: Adults
Content: Definite Time Travel
Original Language: English

Pete Davidson has inherited all the properties of an uncle who had been an authority on the fourth dimension, including the Fourth-Dimensional Demonstrator that can pull copies of matches, coins, dollar bills, fiancées, and kangaroos out of the past.

— Michael Main

“These,” said Pete calmly, “are my fiancée.”

DEBUT

“The Fourth-Dimensional Demonstrator,” Astounding, December 1935.

VARIANTS

1 English variant

TAGS(SPOILERS!)

Time Periods

Circa AD 1930 to 1939

Time Travel Methods

Time Catapults: only when run in reverse on a retrieved item
Time Retrievers

Themes

Get Rich Quick through Time Travel: retrieving money and valuables from the past
Self-Visitation
Selves-Visitation: fiancées and kangaroos

Groupings

Astounding · Analog (periodical)
Sirius (periodical): #50, August 1980
Cited in Time Machines by Paul J. Nahin (): p. 141

TIME TRAVEL ITINERARY (SPOILERS!)

From the platform of the Fourth-Dimensional Demonstrator in Paul’s uncle’s lab, an unspecified time, probably in the 1930s ⋙ to the same spot, a few seconds later. Multiple round trips. Note: all kinds of things from matches to fiancées and kangaroos.