Candy Pusher - The square or oval piece that sits on top of the spring inside the stem. It works as a platform for the candy to sit on. When a candy is taken from the dispenser the spring pushes upwards on the candy pusher. This allows another brick of candy to rise evenly and flatly to the top of the stem.
Favorites Assortments - A type of store display. Favorites could be found on a generic card hanging on a rack or in a bag in a counter display box. Favorites are generally used for overstocked warehouse dispensers, unsold stock returned from merchants and when PEZ needs to move the last of a series due to a licensing agreement ending.
Generic Card - This is a blister pack with a graphic design on the card. The design does not represent any particular series and focuses on the PEZ company. Kids dancing and Floating Candies are 2 designs used.
Hinge Holes - The holes on the left and right sides of the head, which hold the head onto the stem. An exposed hinge hole would be a hole that you can see on the outside of the head. The top of the inner sleeve will have 2 nubs sticking out on both sides. These nubs pop into the holes. The nubs and holes together create a hinge so the head can tilt back.
Homeworker - PEZ would hire people to work outside the factories. These people would receive boxes of parts and they would paint and assemble them. The homeworker would get paid by the piece so it was up to them to get the job done and return the finished product. Since the mid 1990's several finds occurred in homes where these homeworkers lived. Often the homeworker would not complete the job or never send the product back to the factory. Clever collectors would canvas the surrounding areas of the factories and make offers to take the boxes off the homeworker's hands.
Kicker - The hook shaped piece located at the back of the head. When the head is tilted back it pushes the candy out of the front of the dispenser.
Kosher Cards - PEZ packaged dispensers for the Kosher market too. They came on blister packs with a special card with the symbols indicating it was a kosher product printed on them. A plain blue card and a floating candy card was used for the kosher market.
Pad Printing - A technique used for painting PEZ Dispensers
Plastic Hinge Pins - The little nubs on the right and left sides of the top of the inner sleeve. These nubs are inserted into the inside the head creating the hinge so that the head can be tilted back and and forth when dispensing the candy.
Plastic Leaf Spring - This is the mechanism located on the top of the inner sleeve which forces the head into the closed position when not in use. The first leaf spring had one blade which often cracked. When the leaf spring cracked the dispenser could no longer stay shut when not in use. Later, PEZ developed the Multi Leaf spring which works the same way except it utilizes 4 thinner leaves. The leaves are layered resulting in a stronger and more reliable spring.
Spraying - A technique used for painting PEZ Dispensers. A masking tool would be used. This tool would fit over the head. It would mask the areas that weren't supposed to be painted. The factory worker would spay the piece. Spraying was a short lived technique. While it was cheaper than sending out the heads to homeworkers, the process was messy and each color on the head required it's own masking tool. It is easy to see which heads were painted using this technique. Just look at the edges of the color and you'll see a tiny bit of over spray or shadowy blend. The technique was used in the late 70's before they provided the factories with Pad Printing machines.
Stabilizer Bar - Also known as the thumb tab, this is the flat extension on the back of the head. it is located above the kicker. The stabilizer bar can be found on many dispensers created in the late 1980's up to now. The addition coincides with the addition of feet on the stem; 1987. It is used to prevent the dispenser from rolling over during the packaging process.
Steel Hinge Pin - Not to be confused with the steel spring hinge, this is a pin about as thick as a small paper clip which runs through a hole on one side of the head, through the steel spring hinge and through the hole in the other side of the head. It connects the inner sleeve to the head and completes the hinge so that the head can tilt back and dispense the candy.
Steel Spring Hinge - This is located at the top of vintage inner sleeves. A small box holds the spring in place. There is a small piece of the spring sticking out of the box. When this piece of spring is tucked under the kicker it created tension on the head, keeping it in the closed position. PEZ eventually created a plastic leaf spring located on top of the inner sleeve.
Tree - This is what the parts of the dispensers are connected to when they come out of the injection molding machine. Several of the same pieces will be connected to the tree. The factory workers break the parts off and the tree is recycled. An example of trees are found in plastic model kits.
