Arrester

A compact arrester comprising:

• a first group of at least two resistor blocks which are connected in parallel and compactly disposed adjacent to each other between first and second connecting metal plates, each block being comprised of a plurality of stacked nonlinear resistor elements, wherein the first connecting plate connects the upper ends of the individual resistor blocks, and wherein the second connecting plate connects the lower ends of said resistor blocks with each other;
• a second group including at least one further resistor block which is compactly disposed beneath a resistor block of the first group between said second connecting plate and a grounded metal plate, said further resistor block being comprised of stacked nonlinear resistor elements and being connected at its upper end to said second connecting plate and at its lower end to said grounded metal plate;
• a discharge gap compactly disposed adjacent to said further resistor block of the second group between said second connecting plate and said grounded metal plate and being connected in parallel with said further resistor block, and disposed directly beneath one of the resistor blocks of the first group;
• and
• a compact container receiving the resistor blocks of said first group and said second group, the connecting plates and the discharge gap,
• characterized in that the number of resistor blocks of the first group is larger than the number of resistor blocks of the second group.