Candy Buttons

The Candy Button is a rectangular or oval shaped piece that sits inside of the inner sleeve. On the front and back ends of the button, there is a tab that fits inside of the groove or rib in the front and back of the stem.  The candy button acts as a plunger and is the piece that pushes the candy up towards the head.  The button is spring-loaded, and ties the inner sleeve to the stem.  The tab on the back of the button rides in a slot in the back of the inner sleeve, and hooks into the back groove of the stem.  The front tab hooks directly into the front stem groove.

There are many styles of candy buttons.

Type "A" Button Rectangular	Type "B" Button Oval Spud on Opposite Corners
Type "C" Button Oval Spud on Opposite Corners, with tapered back edge	Type "D" Button Semi-Oval with Single Squared Back and Hook
Type "E" Button Squared Front and Back with Hook	Type "F" Button Plain Oval with Hook
Type "G" Button Oval with Raised Finger in back and Hook	Type "H" Button Oval with Flush Finger in back and Hook
Type "I" Button Oval with Dual Flush Fingers in back, Tapered front edge, and Hook

The early dispensers (up to 3.9 Patent) typically had a rectangular Candy Button like the Type "A", shown above. On these buttons there were two tabs that rode inside of the stem spine. The tab in back was always longer than the tab in the front. These buttons are fairly easy to remove.

In later patent revisions, PEZ worked very diligently with redesigning the candy button so that it was much harder to remove (for child-proofing the dispensers and eliminating any choking hazards). They have added a variety of fingers, spuds, tabs, etc. trying to come up with a button design that is not only very easy to initially install... but equally hard to remove once it has been assembled. The *Dreaded* hook that they started using on 3.9 Patent and later dispensers are virtually impossible to take out without severely damaging the inner sleeve. All of the fingers and tabs have been designed to hinder the button from being rocked backwards. The tapered front or back edges were designed into the button to make the initial assembly easier. To date, PEZ is still trying to come up with the most foolproof design... with newer dispensers having the *Dreaded* rear hook and DUAL fingers in back!