A breaker is a powerful percussion hammer fitted to an excavator for demolishing hard (rock or concrete) structures. It is powered by an
auxiliary hydraulic system {{unreferenced, date=April 2008
An auxiliary hydraulic system delivers pressurized hydraulic fluid from a hydraulic pump to operate auxiliary equipment or attachments. The addition of an auxiliary hydraulic system to heavy construction equipment in ...
from the excavator, which is fitted with a foot-operated valve for this purpose. Additionally, demolition crews employ the hoe ram for jobs too large for
jackhammering or areas where
blasting is not possible due to safety or environmental issues.
Breakers are often referred to as "hammers", "peckers", "hoe rams" or "hoe rammers". These terms are popular and commonly used amongst
construction
Construction is a general term meaning the art and science to form objects, systems, or organizations,"Construction" def. 1.a. 1.b. and 1.c. ''Oxford English Dictionary'' Second Edition on CD-ROM (v. 4.0) Oxford University Press 2009 and ...
/
demolition workers. The first hydraulic breaker, Hydraulikhammer HM 400, was invented in 1967 by German company
Krupp (today German company
Atlas Copco) in
Essen
Essen (; Latin: ''Assindia'') is the central and, after Dortmund, second-largest city of the Ruhr, the largest urban area in Germany. Its population of makes it the fourth-largest city of North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne, Düsseldorf and Do ...
.
See also
*
Excavator
References
Info on hydraulic breaker repairs and maintenance
Bibliography
*
Hydraulic tools
Construction equipment
German inventions
1967 in science
1967 in Germany
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