Atlas Copco Construction Tools, Essen, Germany, has been celebrating the 50th anniversary of the introduction of the hydraulic breaker, a concept for which German firm Krupp Berco Bautechnik, acquired by Atlas Copco in 2002, was a pioneer. The German firm developed a rig-mounted hydraulic breaker and took out a patent in 1963. It says its first machine, the HM 400, attracted huge interest at the Hannover fair in 1967 and more than 2,000 units were sold.
The aim was to save time and labour in demolition
October 3, 2013
Read time: 2 mins
Atlas Copco’s 2013 HB 4100 breaker
385 Atlas Copco Construction Tools, Essen, Germany, has been celebrating the 50th anniversary of the introduction of the hydraulic breaker, a concept for which German firm Krupp Berco Bautechnik, acquired by Atlas Copco in 2002, was a pioneer. The German firm developed a rig-mounted hydraulic breaker and took out a patent in 1963. It says its first machine, the HM 400, attracted huge interest at the Hannover fair in 1967 and more than 2,000 units were sold.
The aim was to save time and labour in demolition and mining operations where, at that time, pneumatic tools were widely used, and the new concept was highly successful. It meant that one person operating a rig-mounted hydraulic breaker could do the same amount of work as several operators with pneumatic tools.
The issue of who developed the first hydraulic breaker has long been the subject of some dispute however and French firm 7509 Montabert also makes claims in this respect. What is clear is that both firms were the pioneers of the hydraulic breaker.
