The Time Machine runs off a mysterious crystalline substance called Plattnerite, which is suffused into quartz rods, and the chronometic dials which helps in the navigation of machine works by noting the stress on a platternite doped quartz bar, although other sources indicate the material was held inside a special box to prevent radiation poisoning. This radioactive substance is an effective energy source, and helps the time machine to generate an Attenuation Field that enables it to travel through time.