The well-known Gradall excavator traces its roots back to the beginning of the 1940s. During this time, World War II had created a scarcity of laborers as the majority of the young men went away to war. This decline in the work force brought a huge demand for the delicate work of finishing and grading highway projects.
Ferwerda-Werba-Ferwerda was a Cleveland, Ohio based construction company that experienced this specific 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 major highway contractors in Ohio. The Ferwerdas' started to build a machinery which will save both their livelihoods and their business by inventing a unit that will perform what had before been physical slope work. This creation was to offset the gap left in the worksite when lots of men had joined the army.
The brothers first invented an apparatus that had 2 beams set on a rotating platform, that was connected on top of a second-hand truck. They used a telescopic cylinder in order to move the beams out and in. 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 first design. They made a triangular boom to produce more power. After that, they added a tilt cylinder which enabled the boom to turn forty-five degrees in either direction. This new unit can 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 much work to be completed.
Numerous digging buckets were introduced to the market not long after. These buckets in sizes ranging from 15 inch, 24 inch, 36 inch and 60 inch buckets. There was also a 47 inch heavy-duty pavement removal bucket that was available too.