The famous Gradall excavator traces its roots back to the start of the 1940s. During this time, World War II had caused a scarcity of workers since most of the young men went away to fight the war. This decline in the labor force brought a huge need for the delicate work of grading and finishing highway projects.
Ferwerda-Werba-Ferwerda was a Cleveland, Ohio based construction business which faced this particular problem first hand. Ray and Koop Ferwerda were brothers who had moved from the Netherlands. They were partners in the firm that had become amongst the major highway contractors within the state of Ohio. The Ferwerdas' started to make a machine that will save their business and their livelihoods by making a model that will carry out what had before been manual slope work. This creation was to offset the gap left in the worksite when a lot of men had joined the army.
The initial apparatus these brothers created had 2 beams set on a rotating platform and was connected 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 pull or push dirt.
The Ferwerda brothers improved on their initial design by creating a triangular boom to create more strength. After that, they added a tilt cylinder that enabled the boom to turn forty-five degrees in either direction. This new model can be equipped 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 much work to be completed.
Many digging buckets became available on the market not long after. These buckets in sizes varying from 15 inch, 24 inch, 36 inch and 60 inch buckets. There was also a 47 inch heavy-duty pavement removal bucket which was also available.