Why Bulk Material Forms Lumps and What It Costs You Downstream
Bulk solids and powders lump together most often from residual moisture, compaction during storage, or temperature swings that cause fine particles to bond together in a silo, bin, or during transport. Once lumps form, they cause real problems downstream: clogged conveyors and feeders, inconsistent fill weights during packaging, uneven blending in later mixing steps, and more dust generated when lumps break apart unevenly rather than through controlled reduction. Breaking lumps down to a consistent size before they reach the next step in your process protects your downstream equipment and keeps your finished product consistent, which is the core job our lump breakers are built to do.
Two Lump Breaker Designs Built for Your Material and Throughput
We build two lump breaker designs, and which one fits your operation depends on your material's lump size, hardness, and the throughput you need to hit.
Aurora Dual Rotor Lump Breaker for Higher Throughput
Our Aurora dual rotor lump breaker uses a dual shaft design that produces higher throughput than a single rotor configuration, which makes it the better fit for operations processing larger volumes of lump-prone material on a continuous basis.
Aurora Single Rotor Lump Breaker for Compact Installations
Our Aurora single rotor lump breaker delivers the same blade-and-comb reduction action in a more compact, low-profile footprint. This fits operations with tighter installation space or lower throughput requirements than the dual rotor model is built for.
Chain Mill for Fertilizer and Similar Caking Material
Our chain mill crusher series is engineered specifically to break up caked fertilizer and similar bulk material that compacts hard during storage. If fertilizer caking is your primary lump problem, the chain mill's reduction method is built around that specific material behavior. We cover the chain mill in more detail on our dedicated Chain Mill Crushers page.
Test Before You Buy™
The Stedman Testing and Toll Processing Facility is the place to test your material in our full size equipment. If it can be crushed, ground, pulverized or mixed, chances are we’ve done it. We have more than 10,000 test reports to help get you to the best solution quickly. To learn more about what to expect from testing, read our article that ran in POWDER BULK ENGINEERING magazine.
Configuration Options for Sanitary, Abrasive, and Heavy-Wear Environments
We manufacture our lump breakers in six standard sizes plus custom sizes, and we build in configuration options based on your material and environment rather than offering a single fixed design. This includes high wear materials for abrasive lump material, stainless steel construction and air purge seals for food, pharmaceutical, and other sanitary environments, and carbide overlays for extended wear life in heavy-duty applications. Reversible operation and double-end wall construction extend service life further, and we offer direct or gear reduction drives so the drive configuration matches your throughput and space constraints. If your material or environment needs something beyond a standard configuration, tell us the specifics and we'll tell you what's achievable.
Industries
Stedman Machine Company’s line of size-reduction equipment is found in industries and applications from A-to-Z. In fact, it would be easier to list the industries that don’t employ some type of size-reduction equipment!
The HSI, asphalt crusher, specifically engineered for the asphalt industry, reduces RAP to the required size quickly and easily for further processing.
Rock & Aggregate Crushers
Specialty uses of limestone include the manufacturing of pharmaceuticals, toothpaste, paint, paper, caulking, and glass.
Energy & Biomass Pulverizers
One of the first uses for the cage mill was as a coal pulverizer. By 1900 Nathan Stedman had built more than 100 cage mills designed to crush coal.
Ceramic & Brick Clay Crushers
Stedman revolutionized material preparation for the brick, clay, and ceramic industries by introducing more cost-efficient processes.
Size reduction for a variety of minerals
Stedman crushers, mills, and grinders are used in nearly every mineral and mining industry. Whether you are processing coal, rock, salt, iron ore, wood chips or clay, we have your solution to size reduction.
Industrial Food Rendering Crushers
Stedman ensures nothing goes to waste by delivering reliable, durable pulverizers and crushers perfect for handling food waste and food rendering.
Agricultural Crushers
Stedman delivers high-performing pulverizers crushers perfect for agricultural uses including crushing lime, processing animal feed, and reducing grain corn.
Industrial Herb & Spice Crushing Equipment
Stedman delivers high-performing, low-maintenance pulverizers crushers ideal for large-scale grinding, milling, and processing of herbs and spices.
Grain Processing Equipment for Distilleries
Stedman delivers high-performing, low-maintenance pulverizers & crushers ideal for large-scale grinding and milling grain and corn to supply distilleries.
Fertilizer Crushing Equipment
Stedman’s reliable, durable lump breakers, chain mills, and cage mills are expertly engineered, sturdily constructed, and rigidly tested to meet the specifications you require for heavy-duty fertilizer processing and size reduction.
Why Stedman?
Delivering equipment and service you deserve
For nearly two centuries, Stedman Machine Company has produced quality, reliable and durable size reduction and industrial crushing equipment. Stedman has expert field service and installation technicians ready to assist with all maintenance and equipment commissioning needs.
- Unsurpassed industry experience – operating since 1834
- State-of-the-art equipment testing facilities
- Dedicated, professional staff
- Parts and service available 24 hours a day
Stedman Machine is a leading cement crusher manufacturer with the capability to provide customer service across the globe. Our experienced team will work with you to create the best impact crusher system to make your processes the most efficient. Call us for more information!
Frequently Asked Questions
A lump breaker uses rotating blades passing through a fixed comb, which is a gentler reduction method built specifically to break up lumps that have formed in already-processed material, rather than reduce raw feed material from scratch. Hammer mills and cage mills are built for primary and tertiary size reduction on raw material and tend to generate more dust and fines than a lump breaker would on the same material. If your material has already been processed and just needs de-lumping before packaging or the next process step, a lump breaker is generally the better fit.
No, that's actually one of the main reasons operations choose a lump breaker over a more aggressive crusher. The blade-and-comb design is built to reduce lumps back down to their original particle size with controlled action, which produces far less dust and fines than an impact-based crusher would generate breaking the same lumps apart unevenly.
Yes. We offer stainless steel construction and air purge seals specifically for food processing, pharmaceutical, and other sanitary environments where washdown and contamination control matter. Tell us your sanitation requirements and we can confirm the right configuration.
It comes down to throughput and available installation space. The dual rotor design produces higher throughput for larger-volume operations, while the single rotor design has a more compact, low-profile footprint that fits tighter installations or lower-volume needs. Send us your throughput target and available space and we can confirm which one fits.
In most cases, yes. Our lump breakers are built with a compact, low-profile design specifically so they integrate into existing bulk material handling lines rather than requiring a full line redesign. Send us your current layout and material flow and we can confirm the fit.
Lumps typically form from residual moisture, compaction under the weight of stored material in a silo or bin, or temperature swings that cause fine particles to bond together during storage or transport. Different materials lump for different reasons, which is part of why we recommend testing your specific material so we can confirm the right lump breaker configuration for your actual cause of lumping, not just the material type.
Contact Us
Our 24 hour parts and service department along with our inventory of wear parts allow us to provide the fastest response time for parts and service.