knife switch

American  

noun

Electricity.

1. a form of air switch in which a moving element, usually a hinged blade, is placed between two contact clips.

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knife switch British  

noun

1. an electric switch in which a flat metal blade, hinged at one end, is pushed between fixed contacts

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Etymology

Origin of knife switch

First recorded in 1905–10

Example Sentences

One of the main switches for the reactor at Obninsk is a double-pole, single-throw knife switch, a device that now turns up in the U.S. only in the laboratory scenes of Frankenstein movies.

From Time Magazine Archive

I had bought a large knife switch which could be turned over to connect the aerial to ground.

From The Dawn of Amateur Radio in the U.K. and Greece: a personal view by Joly, Norman F.

If you will open that cupboard on the wall, you’ll find an open knife switch on the wall.

From Astounding Stories of Super-Science, March 1930 by Bates, Harry

The switch S is a small knife switch.

From Letters of a Radio-Engineer to His Son by Mills, John

Amber No. 32 in fireplace on knife switch to be flickered when Celia throws letters and army list into fire.

From Green Stockings A Comedy in Three Acts by Mason, A. E. W. (Alfred Edward Woodle)