I don't know much about history, but Brinkmann's website says they have been in business for just over 30 years (1985ish), while weber introduced the model 1880 and model 2880 in 1981. The meco brand began producing grills in 1969 (onefire grills). in the late 1900s adopted Aussie grills. So no specific date on the smoker I can find.