Originally developed by Krupp Berco Bautechnik, the rig mounted hydraulic breaker was patented in 1963. The first machine HM 400 was a hit at the Hannover fair in 1967, and from that time onwards, more than 2,000 units were sold. The first breaker was exclusively designed to save time, eventually becoming a cost effective solution in the construction industry. Demolition and mining operations at that time saw pneumatic tools being widely used. But the hydraulic breaker was a real game changer as one was enough to replace several pneumatic tools. It was soon known to be a huge time saver that comparatively costed little.

The hydraulic breaker revolutionised the entire construction and mining industry, and today has become a part of the standard equipment fleet, be it for a small or large scale project. “Epiroc hydraulic breakers are still the market leader in most countries around the globe,” explains Gordon Hambach, head of strategic marketing for hydraulic attachment tools. “With hundreds of brands in the industry today, the hydraulic breaker still offers a time saving and cost effective solution for demolition, utilities, rock excavation and many more applications. And of course, the breaker was only the start of the development of other attachment tools such as cutters, pulverisers, grapples, shears, magnets, crushers, screeners etc.”

In 2002 Krupp Berco Bautechnik was acquired by the Swedish Atlas Copco Group. In 2018, Atlas Copco announced its split from Epiroc. While the former continued focusing on industrial customers, Epiroc took the lead in mining and construction. Following this announcement, the hydraulic breakers remained with Epiroc, along with geotechnical and rock drilling tools, underground and surface mining equipment, and related services.

Development is ongoing and in 2020 hydraulic breakers went digital. ‘Hydraulic Attachment Tools Connectivity’ or ‘Hatcon’ is designed to be an advanced level fleet management system, where monitoring operating hours, location and service intervals of tools happens in a few taps across devices such as phones, tablets or computers. Epiroc states that the data from Hatcon provides a new level of control where utilisation is evenly distributed, meaning that optimising transport and increasing uptime with pre-planned service stops has never been easier.