Barbecue grill with snuffing means and heat control

An outdoor barbecue grill for cooking meat or other foodstuff over a bed of hot coals, which comprises:

• kettle means for containing the foodstuff to be cooked and the hot coals for cooking the same, said kettle means having draft vent means in its bottom wall, said draft vent means adapted to be selectively put in a closed condition, a partially open condition, and a fully open condition;
• cover means for said kettle means;
• grill means for holding the foodstuff to be cooked, said grill means being supported by said kettle in the upper interior portion thereof;
• generally vertical support means comprising a hollow column for supporting said kettle in an elevated position, said hollow column being open at its top end to provide communication with said draft vent means in the bottom of the kettle and being open at its bottom end to provide a passage for air from the exterior of the kettle through said hollow column to the interior of the kettle, said support means defining a slot, said slot including a generally vertically extending segment and at least one generally horizontally extending segment communicating with said vertical segment, said segments defining a first position at a lowermost predetermined height and a second position at an uppermost predetermined height;
• grate means adapted for positioning in the interior of said kettle below said grill means for supporting said bed of hot coals;
• a generally vertical post member positioned within said hollow column and extending into the interior of said kettle to define, together with the bottom wall of said kettle means, said draft vent means in the form of an annular draft vent through which fresh air can be admitted into the kettle interior, said post member having an upper end that supports said coal grate means, and having lowermost and uppermost positions, respectively, that correspond to said first and second positions defined by said slot segments in said vertical support means;
• means slidably supporting said post member in a generally vertical position as aforesaid and permitting vertical movement of said post from its lowermost position to its uppermost position;
• generally horizontal handle means, said handle means having one end secured to said vertical post member, a midportion that extends through said slot, and an opposite end that extends away from said support means and is grippable by a user;
• and
• snuffing means carried by said vertically movable post member, said snuffing means being adapted to close said annular draft vent in the bottom wall of said kettle when said post is in its said lowermost position and to open said draft vent when said post is raised above said lowermost position,
• whereby (a) said coal grate means is vertically adjustable relative to said grill means by moving said handle means in said slot segments from said first position at a lowermost height to said second position at an uppermost height, (b) said snuffing means closes said annular draft vent when said post member is in its lowermost position, and (c) said snuffing means puts said annular draft vent in its fully open condition when said post member is in its uppermost position.