Resistance adjusting type heater and catalytic converter

[6. The heating element of claim 4, wherein said slit is arranged perpendicular to

• said axial direction.] 7. The heating element of claim 1, wherein the member of passages per unit area in a plane crossing said axial direction
• is non-uniform, for interrupting current flow between said electrodes. 8. The heating element of claim 1, further comprising a catalyst material
• formed on said partition walls. 9. The heating element of claim 1, wherein
• said slit is arranged parallel to said axial direction. 10. The heating element of claim [9] 1 , wherein the thickness of said partition walls is non-uniform for interrupting current flow between said
• electrodes. 11. The heating element of claim [9] 1, wherein the lengths of said partition walls are non-uniform in said axial direction for interrupting current flow between said
• electrodes.

[12. The heating element of claim 11, wherein one of said electrodes is located at one of the ends and another of said electrodes is

• located at the periphery of said honeycomb structure.] 13. The heating element of claim 1, wherein there are a plurality of slits which are
• parallel to each other [through said partition walls]. 14. A catalytic converter [disposed] for disposal in a stream of fluid, comprising:
• (i) at least one main monolithic catalyst;
• and
• (ii) [an] a heating element disposed adjacent to said at least one main monolithic catalyst [in the flow direction of said stream of fluid], comprising:
• an electrically conductive [integral] monolithic honeycomb structure having a periphery and two ends, including a plurality of passages which are defined by partition walls and extend in an axial direction between the ends, and at least one slit which is formed through said partition walls , said slit being open and unfilled in the area through which a fluid stream may pass through the honeycomb structure, and being substantially planar and extending substantially through the axial length of said honeycomb structure and substantially parallel to said axial direction and crossing the planes of a plurality of partition walls of the honeycomb structure;
• and
• at least two electrodes in electrical contact with said honeycomb structure;
• wherein said slit is disposed between said electrodes such that said slit interrupts current flow through portions of said honeycomb structure between said electrodes for heating said honeycomb structures and fluid
• flowing through said passages. 15. The catalytic converter of claim 14, further comprising a catalyst material formed on said partition walls.
• The catalytic converter of claim 14, wherein said heating element is disposed upstream of said main monolithic catalyst [with respect to the flow direction of said fluid].