The Alarum

The Alarum was a time-travel device developed by the Artifectors and kept by them in the Laboratory of the Strange and Wonderful House.

It resembled “a large, handsome cabinet, crafted from fine lignea” but also had a discreet set of controls including dials to adjust the span of time crossed, and a red button to activate it.

A Housekeeping patrol once burst in on the Laboratory and began cleaning it, much to the dismay of Gravitcher and his Artifectors. However, Spamblodgett tricked Lally, a member of Housekeeping, into the Alarum and sent her five minutes back in time, (PROSE: Our Strange and Wonderful House: The Lab: Setting The Alarum) altering the timeline so that the Artifectors had been warned of Housekeeping's impending arrival and locked and barricaded the door to prevent them coming in. As the timeline was rewritten, the version of Lally who'd been sent back in time dissipated. (PROSE: Our Strange and Wonderful House: The Lab: The Alarum Goes Off)