H. G. Wells was not the first author to make use of a time travel machine in a fictional work. That honor goes to Enrique Gaspar y Rimbau and his zarzuela El anacronópete, published in 1887 and which predates the first version of The Time Machine (titled The Chronic Argonauts) by a year.
The anacronópete is an enormous cast iron box, propelled by electricity, which drives four large pneumatical devices ending in tubes in order to travel, as well as powering other machinery, including something that produces the García fluid, which causes the passengers not to grow younger as they travel backwards in time. The machine's interior also contains all kinds of conveniences including, among other marvels, brooms that sweep by themselves. [...] In the first act, don Sindulfo explains his theory of time: it is the atmosphere that causes time as demonstrated by the conservation of food in hermetic cans. By flying fast against the rotation of Earth, the machine can "undo" the passing of days (a device also found in the film Superman).
(Wikipedia entry for Enrique Gaspar y Rimbau)
If you are wondering what a zarzuela is, it's a traditional form of spanish light opera.
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