Patent ID: 7871287

Claim:
A branching device for at least one electric line, the branching device comprising: a housing comprising a housing base section and a housing upper section to be connected with each other; at least one electrically conducting wire terminal that provides a branching contact is accommodated in a holder, and includes contact lips with cutting edges for cutting through insulation of a wire to be connected to the wire terminal; wherein the at least one wire terminal further includes at least one connecting lug, a through-channel for the uninterrupted passage of the wire, and at least one holding-down clamp which holds the wires in the through-channel of the wire terminal and which is inserted in the housing; at least one of the contact lips is located diagonally to the through-channel so that the tip of the edge of the contact lip protrudes into the through-channel; at least one of the contact lips is flexible in a direction pointing away from the through-channel; and the holding-down clamp exhibits a transverse plate that closes off the through-channel and has an opening through which the connecting lug of the wire terminal protrudes.