rheotome

English

Differential rheotome

Etymology

From rheo- (“flow, current”) +‎ -tome (“cutter”), literally “flow cutter”.

Noun

rheotome (plural rheotomes)

1. Any instrument that interrupts an electric current.
   • 1884, George Calvin Pitzer, Electricity in medicine and surgery, page 30:

     By means of the rheotome, the primary current is broken and closed rapidly, so that the induced current seems almost like a continuous one.