What is a BlueLine Grizzly and why does the Ringo Canyon Granite Quarry have four (4) of them? The BlueLine Grizzly is a state-of-the-art version of a very old and simple machine. A traditional grizzly is just a set of parallel steel bars which are uniformly spaced on a steel frame. The grizzly is fed with a wheel loader. As material is dumped over the grizzly, material with smaller dimensions than the bar spacing goes through the bars. Material with greater dimensions than the bar spacing goes over the grizzly or its “shed”. By using combinations of grizzlies and bar spacing, rock can be sized to specific ranges.
One of the problems when using a traditional grizzly to size rock this way is that rocks can frequently get stuck between the bars. Once one rock gets stuck it usually attracts friends, so fairly soon the rock jam is significant enough to impair function and slow the production of rock processing. This usually results in the loader operator exiting his safe place in the operator seat of the loader and taking a tool such as a hand sledge to clear the stuck rocks. If the operator climbs up onto the grizzly, a fall could result. Rock fragments can fly off the rock as it is struck by the hammer, causing an additional unsafe condition and the operator can be exposed to danger by being on foot in a potentially dangerous setting if other machinery or trucks are present. All of these potential risks or hazards are eliminated with the BlueLine Grizzly.
