The well-known Gradall excavator traces its roots back to the beginning of the 1940s. During this time, the second World War had caused a scarcity of laborers since most of the young men went away to fight the war. This decrease 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 company that faced this specific dilemma first hand. Ray and Koop Ferwerda were brothers who had moved from the Netherlands. They were partners in the company that had become among the major highway contractors within Ohio. The Ferwerdas' started to make an equipment which would save their livelihoods and their business by making a unit which will carry out what had previously been manual slope work. This invention was to offset the gap left in the workplace when so many men had joined the military.
The first device these brothers created had 2 beams set on a rotating platform and was fixed directly onto the top of a 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 first design. They made a triangular boom to produce more strength. After that, they added a tilt cylinder that allowed the boom to rotate forty-five degrees in either direction. This new unit could be outfitted with either a blade or a bucket 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 a lot of work to be finished.
Not a long time later, numerous digging buckets were introduced 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 also available.