The well-known Gradall excavator traces its roots back to the beginning of the 1940s. During this time, World War II had caused a scarcity of workers because most of the young men went away to war. This decrease in the labor force brought a huge need for the delicate work of grading and finishing highway projects.
Ferwerda-Werba-Ferwerda was a Cleveland, Ohio based construction business which faced this specific problem first hand. Koop and Ray Ferwerda were brothers who had relocated from the Netherlands. They were partners in the business that had become one of the leading highway contractors within the state of Ohio. The Ferwerdas' set out to build a machine that will save both their livelihoods and their business by inventing a model which would do what had previously been manual 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, that was fixed on top of a second-hand truck. They used a telescopic cylinder to move the beams in and out. This allowed the fixed blade at the end of the beams to push or pull dirt.
After a short time, the Ferwerda brothers improved on their initial design. They made a triangular boom to produce more strength. Then, 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 bucket or a blade 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 done.
Not a long time after, numerous digging buckets were introduced 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 available as well.