The famous Gradall excavator traces its roots back to the start of the 1940s. During this time, World War II had caused a shortage of laborers because most of the young men went away to fight the war. This decrease in the work force brought a huge need for the delicate work of grading and finishing highway projects.
Ferwerda-Werba-Ferwerda was a Cleveland, Ohio based construction company which experienced this particular problem first hand. Ray and Koop Ferwerda were brothers who had relocated from the Netherlands. They were partners in the company which had become one of the leading highway contractors within the state of Ohio. The Ferwerdas' started to build an equipment that will save both their livelihoods and their business by inventing a model which will do what had before been physical slope work. This creation was to offset the gap left in the workplace when so many men had joined the army.
The brothers initially invented an apparatus that had 2 beams set on a rotating platform, which was connected on top of a used truck. They used a telescopic cylinder in order to move the beams in and out. This allowed the fixed blade at the end of the beams to pull or push dirt.
The Ferwerda brothers improved on their initial design by creating a triangular boom to produce more strength. After that, they added a tilt cylinder that enabled the boom to turn forty-five degrees in either direction. This new model can be equipped with either a bucket or a blade and the attachment movement was made possible by placing a cylinder at the rear of the boom. This design powered a long push rod and allowed a lot of work to be done.
Not a long time later, many 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 that was also available.