Where should a fuse or circuit breaker be installed in a 120V AC power circuit?

In a standard 120V AC circuit, the 'hot' wire carries the dangerous voltage, while the 'neutral' wire is tied to ground at the breaker panel. A fuse or circuit breaker must be placed in series with the hot wire so that if an overload occurs, the connection is broken and dangerous voltage is completely removed from the device. Fuses must never be wired in parallel, as doing so would simply bypass the fuse or create an immediate short circuit. Furthermore, you should never place a fuse in the neutral wire. If a neutral fuse were to blow, the equipment would stop working, but the internal circuitry would still be dangerously energized with 120V, creating a severe, hidden shock hazard.