gravity plate n.

a device that creates or nullifies the effects of gravity

Obs.

  • 1932 R. Cummings Wandl, the Invader in Astounding Stories 201/1 page image Ray Cummings bibliography

    The bow gravity-plates slid into the repulsive-force positions.

  • 1933 J. Williamson Salvage in Space in Astounding Stories Mar. 20/2 page image Jack Williamson bibliography

    The creatureโ€™s body was so heavy that Thad had to return to the bridge, and shut off the current in the gravity plates along the keel, before he could move it.

  • 1936 โ€˜ย˜G. Wilsonโ€™ย™ Earth-Venus 12 in Thrilling Wonder Stories Dec. 104/2 page image bibliography

    An hourโ€™s ascent, with our rocket-tails streaming like a comet behind us; then we shut them off, with the gravity plates set for Earth repulsion and the Moon to pull us on the first leg of the flight.

  • 1943 F. B. Long Stellar Vampires in Science Fiction July 80/1 Frank Belknap Long bibliography

    But there was nothing normal about a gravity plate that had resisted the tug of Mars only to buckle on little Phobos, crippling our ship on a blue moon that traveled in the wrong direction, and possessed a diameter of only eight minutes of arc when it was at its zenith.

Research requirements

antedating 1932
Earliest cite

Ray Cummings, "Wandl, the Invader"
Research History
Fred Galvin submitted a 1951 cite from Samuel A. Peeples, David A. Kyle, and Martin Greenberg's "A Dictionary of Science Fiction".
Fred Galvin submitted a cite from a 1996 reprint of Raymond Z. Gallun's 1935 "Derelict"; Mike Christie verified it in the first publication.
Fred Galvin submitted a 1936 cite from Gabriel Wilson's "Earth-Venus 12".
Fred Galvin submitted a 1943 cite from Frank Belknap Long's "The Stellar Vampires".
Fred Galvin submitted a cite from a 1975 reprint of Jack Williamson's 1933 "Salvage in Space"; Mike Christie verified it in the first publication in the March 1933 Astounding Stories.
Mike Christie submitted a 1940 cite from Henry Kuttner's "Reverse Atom".
Jesse Sheidlower submitted a 1932 cite from Ray Cummings' "Wandl, the Invader"

Last modified 2021-01-21 04:35:13
In the compilation of some entries, HDSF has drawn extensively on corresponding entries in OED.