Since Uxa’s original design, multiple patents have been issued for Pez Dispensers. The patent number appears on the side of the dispenser, at the bottom, most often under the words “Made in XXX” where XXX is the country where the dispenser is manufactured.
In general, patent numbers can give an indication but not a definitive date as to when a dispenser was produced. Left over stems can be used for years, being added to newer heads and likewise, older, left over heads can sometimes be placed on newer stems. Typically, collectors do not use all 7 digits of the patent number, only the first two numbers are referred to, so the original 2,620,061 is simply referred to as a 2.6 patent.
U.S. Patent 2,620,061 issued in 1952 described as a Pocket article dispensing container
U.S. Patent 3,410,455 issued in 1968 described as a Dispensing Device for tablets
U.S. Patent 3,845,882 issued in 1974 described as a Spring cage for use in a tablet dispensing receptacle
U.S. Patent 3,942,683 issued in 1976 described as a Tablet dispensing receptacle
U.S. Patent 4,966,305 issued in 1990 described as a Tablet dispenser
U.S. Patent 5,984,285 issued in 1999 described as a Plastic spring (reference to the head spring)
U.S. Patent 7,523,841 issued in 2009 described as a Tray for storing and individually dispensing tablets
U.S. Patent 11,459,164 issued in 2022 described as a Pill Dispenser and emphasizes the utilization of a transverse guide on a cap to which two halves of the decorative head attach, which in turn attaches to the inner sleeve.
It should be noted that the 7.5 patent did not actually begin to appear in the market place until 2011 and many dispensers currently being shipped directly from Pez Candy, Inc. still have the 5.9 patent. Likewise, the first sighting of the 11.4 patent was in January 2024 on a European Groom with full beard and mustache, but it did not use the head attached to the cap which attaches by hinge pins to the sleeve technology described in the patent.
Additional patent numbers include the DBP 818.829 which is a German Deutsches Bundes Patent and dispensers made in Mexico which bear the patent number 141.242. The Space Ray gun made in Austria has a patent number of 3.370.746