Embankment-machine

The Embankment-machine (also known as the Digging Machine) was an automated machine used by the Martians in "The War of the Worlds" by H.G. Wells.

Description

The machine is featured only once in the novel in very little detail. Rather than describe its appearance, Wells describes it as an excavator used to widen the pits where the Cylinders landed. Wells explains that the machine itself has no pilot or a form of cockpit, and that it appears to be a form of automation.

When the Martians are on the move, either the Embankment-machine is abandoned or taken with them to work elsewhere.

In other adaptations

The Embankment-machine has been featured in the graphic novel by Dark Horse Comics. The machine here is portrayed as a mechanical Earthworm that feeds the soil into a mouth-like intake rather than actually digging, and moves about on several mechanical feet like a Centipede. Several of these are seen at the main Martian camp in London, left abandoned as the Martians succumb to the Earth's bacteria.

Another version appears in the 1998 PC Game based on Jeff Wayne's adaption. This Digging Mechanism was a bulky, four-legged machine whose purpose was to build defensive fortifications and related structures. Unlike the novel's version though, this machine does not seem to be automated.

External links

* [http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Galaxy/3773/waroftheworlds/martians/tech.html#digging-machine Martian Technology] - Detail on the workings of the Embankment-machine/Digging Machine