The well-known Gradall excavator traces its roots back to the beginning of the 1940s. During this time, the second World War had caused a scarcity of laborers because most of the young men went away to war. This decrease in the work force brought a huge need for the delicate work of finishing and grading highway projects.
Ferwerda-Werba-Ferwerda was a Cleveland, Ohio based construction business that faced this particular dilemma first hand. Ray and Koop Ferwerda were brothers who had moved from the Netherlands. They were partners in the company which had become among the leading highway contractors in Ohio. The Ferwerdas' started to build a machine that would save both their livelihoods and their business by making a model that would carry out what had before been manual slope work. This invention was to offset the gap left in the workplace when so many men had joined the military.
The first apparatus these brothers created had 2 beams set on a rotating platform and was connected directly onto the top of a truck. They used a telescopic cylinder to move the beams out and in. This allowed the connected blade at the end of the beams to pull or push dirt.
The Ferwerda brothers improved on their initial design by making a triangular boom to produce more power. After that, they added a tilt cylinder which allowed the boom to rotate 45 degrees in either direction. This new unit could be equipped with either a blade or a bucket and the attachment movement was made possible by placing a cylinder at the back of the boom. This design powered a long push rod and allowed a lot of work to be finished.
Not a long time after, numerous digging buckets became available on the market. These buckets came in 15 inch, 24 inch, 36 inch and 60 inch sizes. There was additionally a 47 inch heavy-duty pavement removal bucket which was also available.