Patent ID: 8148869

Claim:
A brush holder comprising: a plurality of terminals respectively forming conducting paths connecting brushes, each making a slidable contact with a commutator of a direct current rotating electrical machine, with a direct current source; and a holder body made of resin and holding the terminals, wherein each terminal is formed including: a pair of connecting terminals provided so as to sandwich a cut-off portion in which the conducting path is cut to mount an electrical component to the cut-off portion for connecting the electrical component in series with the conducting path, and a shorting path forming portion connecting one of the connecting terminals provided at a side of the direct current source with the brush to short the cut-off portion, wherein the holder body is formed having an opening, from which both surfaces of the shorting path forming portion are exposed to an exterior, for cutting the shorting path forming portion with the terminals held by the holder body, wherein the shorting path forming portion allows a direct connection between the brush and the direct current source, and wherein, when the shorting path forming portion is cut off, the direct connection is interrupted and the brush is allowed to be in an indirect connection with the direct current source via the electrical component.