Stator

The stator of an oscillator consists of all its cells that are always alive. Sometimes the stator is taken to include also some of the cells that are always dead.

Bushing, casing and frame

The bushing of an oscillator is the part of the stator that is adjacent to the rotor. The rest of the stator is known as the casing; alternatively, cells within the zone of influence of the rotor may be referred to as the casing, with the rest of the oscillator called the frame.^[1] This article uses the former convention.

An arbitrary number of more or less trivial variations of an oscillator can usually be constructed by modifying the casing (e.g. bipole → bipole tie ship, or block on griddle vs. beehive on griddle), while the bushing will not necessarily allow for any tampering (e.g. the bushing of a caterer consists of three isolated cells inside the stator, that are surrounded by rotor cells).

Independence of rotor and stator

In some cases a rotor that requires a stator can be stabilized with several different stators. Simple examples include the pair of clock and quad, or the triple of blinker, bipole and snake pit. Two large families are orthogonal on-offs (exemplified by oscillators such as spark coil and test tube baby; these have identical bushing however), and diagonal on-offs (exemplified by oscillators such as beacon, 1 beacon and eater plug).

Similarly, a stator can in some cases support more than one rotor: an example is the 3-by-4 billiard table in Hertz oscillator and negentropy.

Gallery

	A blinker's stator consists of its central cell
	The stator of mold is a loaf
	Billiard table configuration oscillators frequently require induction coils, such as the covers surrounding this scrubber, as a part of their casing.