Other Crushers

There are other kinds of crushers, such as hammer crushers, which use huge plates or protrusions on spinning wheels to smash whatever is being crushed into bits. However, these are used most often in industries that are crushing rocks. Auto recyclers might use them to render scrap metal into smaller pieces, but this is rarely the first step in the recycling process for a car.

Some stationary crushers use a large electromagnet on a lifting arm to "grab" metal cars and drop them into the crusher. Shredders also use magnets to separate steel parts from non-ferrous materials.

Photo courtesy of Can-Am Recycling A car crusher in action

Car crushers must be made with thick, hardened steel. The material has to be tougher than whatever it is they're crushing. This toughness is the reason that some of the original crushers made in the 1970s are still operational today.

To buy your own car crusher (great entertainment at backyard cookouts), plan on shelling out at least $30,000 for an older, used model. A brand new crusher will cost between $120,000 and $150,000.

Car Crusher as Murder Weapon It's something everyone ponders, if only for a moment, when they see a car crusher in action: what would happen if a person were actually in the car when it was crushed? That horrific thought has lead to the car crusher used as a murder weapon, means of body disposal or a simple yet effective threat in countless films and crime novels. The James Bond movie "Goldfinger" and the remake of "Gone in 60 Seconds" are just two examples. But has it ever really happened? In the annals of crime history, it's likely that someone, somewhere was murdered by being put through a car crusher. The fact is, especially in the case of a baler crusher, a crushed body is pretty hard to find. In one case, a scrap yard owner in Wellingborough, England put the body of a man he had shot to death through a car crusher, and the remains were never found [Source: BBC]. Perhaps many more people have met their end in a car crusher than crime records indicate because the perpetrators were never caught.