Welcome to Brainstuff from house stuff works dot com where smart Happens. Hi am Marcia Brain with today's question what does PEZ mean? Most people have had Pez candy at one time or another as kids, and a surprising number of adults are hooked on the stuff as well. It turns out Pez was originally intended to be used by adults and didn't move into the kid's market until twenty five years after its creation. Pez candy was invented in nineteen seven by an Austrian food company executive named Edward
has the Third. The original candy, basically a compressed sugar tablet flavored with peppermint oil, was marketed as an alternative to smoking. The name came from the first, middle, and last letters of the German word for peppermint. Originally, Pez came in small tins, but in nineteen Hassas Company introduced the first Pez dispenser. The original dispenser was designed to
resemble a cigarette lighter. To make an appeal to the intended market of adult smokers, The company introduced the character heads and fruit flavored candy in nineteen fifty two when it brought Pez to the United States. The appeal to kids was obvious candy that's also a toy. Over the years, hundreds of different character dispensers have been introduced and then discontinued. The dispenser body or stem has also changed slightly. In seven, for example, supportive feet were added to the base so
that these things could stand up on your desk. One way to roughly date a particular PEZ dispenser is to
check the patent number molded on its side. The main numbers on US dispensers are Patent number two million, six hundred twenty thousand, sixty one, issued in nineteen fifty two, Patent number three million, four hundred ten thousand, four hundred fifty five issued in nineteen sixty eight, Patent number three million, eight hundred forty five thousand, eight hundred eighty two issued in nineteen seventy four, Patent number three million, nine hundred thousand,
six hundred eighty three issued in nineteen seventy six, and Patent number four million, nine hundred sixty six thousand, three hundred five issued in nineteen nine. PEZ dispensers are a major collector's item today, most likely because of a combination of personal nostalgia, the connection to pop culture, characters and the limited run on individual dispenser designs. Many individual dispensers sell for hundreds of dollars, and a few sell upwards of a thousand dollars. Be sure to check out our
new video podcast, Stuff from the Future. Join how Stuff Work staff as we explore the most promising and perplexing possibilities of tomorrow. The housed offfors iPhone app has arrived. Download it today on iTunes.