The famous Gradall excavator traces its roots back to the start of the 1940s. During this time, WWII had caused a shortage of workers as nearly all of the young men went away to 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 business that faced this specific problem first hand. Koop and Ray Ferwerda were brothers who had relocated from the Netherlands. They were partners in the business which had become one of the leading highway contractors within the state of Ohio. The Ferwerdas' started to build an equipment which would save both their business and their livelihoods by inventing a model that will do what had previously 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 first created an apparatus which 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 pull or push dirt.
After a short time, the Ferwerda brothers improved on their initial design. They made a triangular boom to produce more strength. After that, they added a tilt cylinder which allowed the boom to rotate 45 degrees in either direction. This new model 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.
Many digging buckets were introduced to the market not long later. 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 also available.