Glider-producing switch engine

Glider-producing switch engine
bo65b$bo65b$bo65b$5bo61b$b3o2bo60b$o4bo61b$o3bo62b$b3o63b$15b2o50b$13b 2o2bo49b$obo10b2o3bo48b$obo10b2o52b$obo64b$obo17bo46b$b2o14bo49b3$22bo 2bo41b$26bo40b$22bo10b2o32b$26bo6b2o32b$22b4o41b$21bo45b$22b2o43b$23bo 43b3$41b2o24b$41b2o24b3$13b2o52b$13b2o52b5$36b2o29b$36b3o9b2o17b$37bo 10bobo16b$49bo17b$33bo33b$27bo5bo33b$26bobo11b3o24b$26bo2bo9bob2o24b$ 16b2o9b2o10b2o26b$15bo2bo48b$15b2ob2o47b$18bobo46b$20b2o45b$17bo3bo45b $17bo2bo44b2o$18b3o44b2o3$54bo12b$53bobo11b$40bo12b2o12b$39bobo25b$39b 2o! #C [[ THUMBSIZE 2 THEME 6 GRID GRIDMAJOR 0 SUPPRESS THUMBLAUNCH ]] #C [[ AUTOSTART ]] #C [[ TRACK -1/12 -1/12 THUMBSIZE 2 HEIGHT 480 Z 4 ]]
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Pattern type	Puffer
Number of cells	123
Bounding box	67 × 60
Frequency class	21.0
Direction	Diagonal
Period	384
Speed	c/12
Discovered by	Charles Corderman
Year of discovery	1971
Rules Outer-totalistic rules B3/S23 only # of rules 20 = 1 Isotropic rules B3/S23 only
Glider synthesis Fewest gliders (canonical) 4 Catagolue-generated RLE (canonical) synthesis Fewest gliders (cheapest variant) 3 Uploaded synthesis RLE gliderproducingswitchengine_synth.rle
Pattern files Plaintext gliderproducingswitchengine.cells RLE gliderproducingswitchengine.rle
Identifiers apgcode yl384_1_59_7aeb1999980c43b4945fb7fcdb023326

The glider-producing switch engine (or glider-making switch engine) is a puffer that was found by Charles Corderman in the early 1970s. It consists of a switch engine reacting with blocks to produce various still lifes, several blinkers, and a glider every 384 generations.

Because of its easy construction (see its predecessors below), it has appeared in some superlinear growth patterns including mosquito 3, and in some universal constructors like the reverse caber tosser.

Commonness

The glider-producing switch engine is the second most common naturally-occurring pattern that exhibits infinite growth, the most common being the block-laying switch engine. It is also the ninety-first most common object on Adam P. Goucher's Catagolue.

Predecessors

Time bomb

The time bomb is a 17-cell pattern found by Douglas G. Petrie that evolves into a glider-producing switch engine.

bo11b2o$obo4bo6bo$7bo4bo2b$2bo2bo3bo2bo2b$2b2o6bo4b$3bo! #C [[ THUMBSIZE 2 THEME 6 GRID GRIDMAJOR 0 SUPPRESS THUMBLAUNCH ]] #C [[ THUMBSIZE 2 ]]

Time bomb (click above to open LifeViewer) RLE: here Plaintext: here

Other predecessors

x = 28, y = 6, rule = B3/S23 bobo$o$bo2bo$3b3o$26b2o$26b2o! #C [[ THUMBSIZE 2 THEME 6 GRID GRIDMAJOR 0 SUPPRESS THUMBLAUNCH ]] #C [[ THUMBSIZE 2 ]]

Another simple predecessor of the glider-producing switch engine (click above to open LifeViewer) RLE: here Plaintext: here

Although a clean synthesis of the glider-producing switch engine requires 4 gliders, Michael Simkin found a 3-glider collision in October 2014 which includes the puffer in its ash. This collision has the minimum number of gliders necessary to exhibit infinite growth, and is the only known 3-glider collision to do so.

There is a list of known 4-glider syntheses with the condition that all escaping gliders are forward-facing.

Gallery

The debris left behind by the glider-producing switch engine

External links

• Stabilized switch engine at the Life Lexicon
• Single switch engine puffer trains at the Life Objects Catalog
• Glider-producing switch engine at Adam P. Goucher's Catagolue (linear growth)