Blanchard grinding is a brand name that has become generic in its use, much like saying Kleenex when referring to facial tissue. What began as a machine developed by the Blanchard Machine Co. in the 1900s is now a moniker generically applied to a number of rotary surface grinding machines including Blanchard, Mattison and others. In 2004, Bourn and Koch Inc. purchased OEM rights to Blanchard and Mattison, building new surface grinders in its facility in Rockford, Illinois, as well as offering retrofit and rebuild services for older equipment.
Rotary surface grinding works like this: A large workpiece is held on a rotary table with a magnetic chuck if the workpiece is ferrous or with custom fixturing if it is not. The machine’s table spins the workpiece under a vertical grinding spindle, and a segmented grinding wheel is lowered face-down into the workpiece, contacting the surface in much the same way as a floor polisher or a street sweeper. The grinding wheel spins counter to the table’s rotation, leaving Blanchard’s signature crosshatch pattern.
Source: Keeping Blanchard Grinding Current