sb. [CUT v. 56.] Electr. Engin. A contrivance for automatically cutting lamps, motors, or other electrical appliances out of circuit, when the current supplied to them reaches a point at which it is undesirable to work.
One of the commonest kinds is a fuse or fusible cut-out, a short piece of metal in circuit which melts when the current attains an unsafe magnitude. There are also other kinds, mostly electro-magnetic in their form, which may be made to act with an increase, a decrease, or a change in direction of current. The name was formerly sometimes applied to a short-circuiting switch on a telegraph circuit.
1874. in Knight, Dict. Mech.
1887. Spons, Househ. Management (1887), 95. Cut-outs or safely valves, are essential to the security of a house.
1888. Rules & Regul. Teleg. Eng. & Electricians, 23. All circuits should be protected with cut-outs. Ibid., 24. Where fusible cut-outs are used [etc.].
1893. Verity & Sons’ Compend., 34. Automatic magnetic cut-out.
