A line switch for twin-wire cable, comprising:
- (A) an electrically-insulating switch housing of a one-piece clamshell-type construction, said housing having a body portion and an integral cover portion adjacently hinged along a common longitudinal edge to the body portion for pivoting movement about a longitudinal axis,
- (i) said body portion having a base wall in which a first generally rectangular slot is formed, and side walls extending from the base wall and bounding an interior space within the body portion,
- (ii) one of the side walls extending along a longitudinal direction and having formed therein a pair of recesses longitudinally spaced apart from each other by a predetermined distance, and
- (iii) another of the side walls extending generally parallel to said one side wall and having a resilient tab integral with the other side wall,
- (iv) said cover portion having a top wall in which a second generally rectangular slot is formed, and channel walls bounding a longitudinally-extending channel in which one open elongated electrical wire having longitudinally spaced-apart electrical conductors is received alongside another elongated electrical wire of a twin-wire cable,
- (v) said cover portion being pivotable from an access position in which the twin-wire cable is freely laid along the channel, to an assembled position in which the top wall of the cover portion overlies the base wall of the body portion and in which the first and second slots are in mutually juxtaposed alignment along a transverse direction,
- (vi) said cover portion having locking legs for snapping engagement behind a cooperating pair of undercuts on the body portion in the assembled position;
- (B) a pair of electrically-conducting terminals, each fixedly staked in a respective one of the recesses, each terminal having a generally planar stationary contact portion mounted within the interior space of the body portion, and a piercing projection extending transversely from the stationary contact portion and outwardly of the body portion, each piercing projection having a pair of sharp free ends operative for piercing through and electromechanically engaging a respective conductor of said open wire in said assembled position of the cover portion;
- (C) an elongated leaf spring having a pair of electrically-conducting movable contact portions at opposite end regions of the spring and mounted within the interior space of the body portion and longitudinally spaced apart from each other by said predetermined distance;
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- (D) an electrically-insulating armature on which the movable contact portions are mounted at one side of the armature for joint sliding movement along the transverse direction between a closed and an open position in which the movable contact portions electromechanically engage and are disengaged from, respectively, the stationary contact portions to thereby electrically connect and disconnect, respectively, the electrical conductors,
- (i) said armature having at the opposite side thereof a pair of transversely spaced-apart shallow indents, each engageable by the resilient tab to affirmatively detentively maintain the armature in a selected one of the closed and the open positions.