Disconnecting device for a surge arrester

A disconnecting device for a surge arrester which is accommodated by a support body, and wherein plug contacts which are connected to at least one arrester element of the surge arrester extend from the support body, further comprising a switching tongue which is connected at a first end to the arrester element via a thermal separating point and with a second end to one of the plug contacts, a spring-preloaded insulating disconnecting bracket which is pivotably mounted on the support body, the spring preload acting on the thermal separating point via the switching tongue,

• wherein
• the switching tongue is configured as a straight-surface, elongated, metallic, resiliently elastic disconnecting strip having a rectangular cross-section, a connection to a contact surface of the arrester element being made by means of the thermal separating point via the broadside of a first disconnecting strip end, and a connection to one of the plug contacts being made via a circumference of a second disconnecting strip end which plunges into a slot-shaped recess within a section of the plug contact which faces the support body, the recess being substantially complementary to a cross-sectional area of the second disconnecting strip end, and the disconnecting bracket being further subject to a shift in position when a melting point of the thermal separating point is reached, and thus lifting the disconnecting strip with the first disconnecting strip end thereof from the contact point, and the disconnecting bracket entering a resulting gap.