The well-known Gradall excavator traces its roots back to the beginning of the 1940s. During this time, WWII had created a shortage of workers because nearly all of the young men went away to war. This decline in the labor force brought a huge need for the delicate work of finishing and grading highway projects.
Ferwerda-Werba-Ferwerda was a Cleveland, Ohio based construction business which faced this specific dilemma first hand. Koop and Ray Ferwerda were brothers who had moved from the Netherlands. They were partners in the firm which had become amongst the leading highway contractors within the state of Ohio. The Ferwerdas' started to make a machinery which would save their company and their livelihoods by making a model which will carry out what had before been physical slope work. This invention was to offset the gap left in the worksite when lots of men had joined the army.
The brothers first created a device which had 2 beams set on a rotating platform, which was fixed on top of a second-hand truck. They utilized a telescopic cylinder to be able to move the beams in and out. This allowed 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. After that, they added a tilt cylinder that enabled the boom to rotate 45 degrees in either direction. This new model could 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 done.
Not a long time after, numerous 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 that was available as well.