PURPOSE: To increase the effect of restricting an excessive current and to easily make a reactor adaptable to various rated currents such that the impedance is reduced during feeding of the rated current and increased at the time of occurrence of an excessive current, by a construction wherein a plunger is disposed in front of a coil bobbin and locked by a latch projection, and the plunger is drawn to be unlocked from the latch by the magnetic force of a coil when the excessive current occurs.

CONSTITUTION: A current limiting reactor is connected in series to wiring lines (not shown) through a terminal unit 19, and a coil 8 serves as an electric line element. The illustrated state represents the normal state where the rated current is fed. At this time, since a latch projection affords resistance enough to overcome the total sum of the attraction force of the coil 8 for attracting a plunger 22 and the resilient force of a coil spring 28, the plunger 22 is held out of the coil 8. Thus, the current limiting reactor has an impedance value based on the hollow coil. This makes it possible to set the impedance relatively small for feeding of the rated current.