A jaw or toggle crusher consists of a set of vertical jaws, one jaw being fixed and the other being moved back and forth relative to it by a cam or pitman mechanism. The jaws are farther apart at the top than at the bottom, forming a tapered chute so that the material is crushed progressively smaller and smaller as it travels downward until it is small enough to escape from the bottom opening. The movement of the jaw can be quite small, since complete crushing is not performed in one stroke. The inertia required to crush the material is provided by a weighted flywheel that moves a shaft creating an eccentric motion that causes the closing of the gap.

Single and double toggle jaw crushers are constructed of heavy duty fabricated plate frames with reinforcing ribs throughout. The crusher's components are of high strength design to accept high power draw. Manganese steel is used for both fixed and movable jaw faces. Heavy flywheels allow crushing peaks on tough materials. Double Toggle jaw crushers may feature hydraulic toggle adjusting mechanisms. There are 3 types of jaw crushers according to the place the movable plate has been fixed around which position the rotates the movable jaw.

1. Blake crusher-fixed in the lower point
2. Dodge crusher-fixed in the upper point
3. Universal crusher-fixed in the midpoint