The famous Gradall excavator traces its roots back to the start of the 1940s. During this time, the second World War had created a scarcity of laborers because nearly all of the young men went away to fight the war. This decline in the labor force brought a huge demand for the delicate work of grading and finishing highway projects.
A Cleveland, Ohio construction company known as Ferwerda-Werba-Ferwerda experienced this specific dilemma first hand. Two brothers, Koop and Ray Ferwerda had moved to the United States from the Netherlands. They were partners in the firm that had become amongst the leading highway contractors within the state of Ohio. The Ferwerdas' set out to make a machine which would save both their livelihoods and their business by inventing a unit which will do what had before 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 which had 2 beams set on a rotating platform, that was connected on top of a second-hand truck. They utilized a telescopic cylinder to move the beams in and out. 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 strength. After that, they added a tilt cylinder which allowed the boom to turn forty-five 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 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 also a 47 inch heavy-duty pavement removal bucket which was offered too.