in the stainless steel layer 134 the bends 160 effectively shorten the distance between the contact arm 140 and the contact base 148 through the actuation of the one contact arm 140 all the leads 124 can be effectively simultaneously switched between their shunted and electrically open states fig7 a and 7b illustrate several steps in the process by which the shunt 110 can be fabricated as shown in fig7 a following the formation of the gap 142 the contact arm is formed by severing the adjacent sections of the leads 124 at a location adjacent to the contact pads 144 when the contact arm 146 is forced downwardly against the bias force provided by the insulating layer 136 and copper alloy layer 132 as shown in fig7 b the bends 160 can be formed in the arms 162 shunt 210 a third embodiment of the present invention is illustrated in fig8 shunt 210 is similar to shunt 110 described above and similar features are identified with similar reference numbers as shown the contact base 248 includes a section 249 of added conductive material to function as a common ground conductive material section 249 can be an extension from the base load beam material carrier strip or a separate component shunt 210 offers many of the advantages of shunt 110 but does not require the vertical space needed for the bent.