spark-arrester

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A fender of wire netting.
2. n. A netting or cage of wire placed over the smoke-stack of a steamengine. In some arresters a deflector is placed in the stack, against which the sparks strike, and fall into a reservoir below. Also called spark-consumer.
3. n. A device for preventing injurious sparking in electrical apparatus at points where frequent interruptions of the circuit occur, as in telegraph-keys, relays, and similar instruments. It consists in some cases of a spark-coil or high-resistance connective across the point of interruption, so that the circuit is never actually broken, but only greatly reduced. In others it is a condenser whose plates are connected each with one extremity of the broken circuit. In this case the energy of the current induced on breaking is expended in charging the condenser. Also sparker.