A film Cutout, sometime called an "antifuse",  can be thought of as a backward acting fuse.  It blows on over voltage, not over current and when it blows it shorts, not opens like a regular fuse.

A film cutout is used in series lighting.  For example, imagine an airport runway.  This runway is 2 miles long and there are lights spaced 100 feet apart.  This is over 100 lights on one side of the runway.  Now remember there must be lights on both sides, the ends, usually down the middle, side markers, taxiways, etc.  If you tried to run parallel lighting (like in your house with 2 wires going to each light) the wires would have to be huge since there would be such a voltage drop over this distance.  Series lighting does not have this problem.  It uses a high voltage but the current is the same because it is a series circuit.

Film cutouts come in four different breakover voltages ranging from 30 Volts to 390 Volts.  Your lamps and configuration will determine which type you need.

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