The famous Gradall excavator traces its roots back to the beginning of the 1940s. During this time, World War II had caused a shortage of workers because most 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.
Ferwerda-Werba-Ferwerda was a Cleveland, Ohio based construction company which experienced this specific dilemma first hand. Koop and Ray Ferwerda were brothers who had relocated from the Netherlands. They were partners in the company that had become amongst the major highway contractors in Ohio. The Ferwerdas' started to make an equipment which would save both their company and their livelihoods by inventing a unit which would carry out what had before been physical slope work. This invention was to offset the gap left in the workplace when so many men had joined the military.
The brothers initially created an apparatus which had 2 beams set on a rotating platform, that was attached on top of a second-hand truck. They used a telescopic cylinder in order to move the beams in and out. This enabled the attached 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 power. Then, they added a tilt cylinder which 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 much work to be finished.
Numerous digging buckets were introduced to the market not long later. These buckets in sizes varying from 15 inch, 24 inch, 36 inch and 60 inch buckets. There was additionally a 47 inch heavy-duty pavement removal bucket that was also available.