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The electric illuminator is powered by two AA size batteries. It utilizes the standard but unusual flat disc-shaped
McArthur bulbs. The battery compartment cover is also the on-off switch; sliding it to allow a piece of
insulating material to contact one of the
batteries will turn the unit off. There is a built in condensing lens, and a diffuser screen which can be slid in
or out as desired.
Compared to earlier models, this illuminator is heavier and rectangular; the diffuser screen was supplied with
earlier illuminators such as the Cooke-McArthur, but my earlier Cooke-McArthur example does not have one; it was apparently supplied as a separate accessory, whereas in the Kirk example, it is built in to the illuminator.