Stand-alone gas-fired smoker with mechanical temperature control

A stand-alone gas-fired smoker for cooking a food product comprising:

• a. a cabinet with a top, a bottom, sides, a back, an access door, and at least one rack vertically located within the cabinet for holding the food product to be cooked;
• b. a gas burner located adjacent the bottom of the cabinet and connected to a source of flammable gas by means of a variable gas valve, the variable gas valve comprising:
• i. a valve body having
• (a) an inlet port;
• (b) an outlet port;
• and
• (c) a valve seat
• ii. a valve plunger for engaging the valve seat;
• iii. a control knob stem for advancing into and retracting from the valve body;
• iv. a spring positioned between the control knob stem and the valve plunger, the spring engaging one side of the valve plunger;
• v. a flexible bellows positioned between the valve body and an opposite side of the valve plunger;
• vi. an oil filled temperature sensor bulb connected to the bellows of the variable gas valve by a capillary tube for exerting pressure inside the bellows and thereby modulating the amount of gas passing through the variable gas valve to the gas burner;
• c. a safety/igniter valve connected between the source of flammable gas and the variable gas valve;
• and
• d. a flame sensor connected to the safety/igniter valve for sensing the existence of a flame at the gas burner and closing the safety/igniter valve when the gas burner is extinguished.