The famous Gradall excavator traces its roots back to the beginning of the 1940s. During this time, WWII had created a scarcity of laborers since most 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 which experienced this particular problem first hand. Koop and Ray Ferwerda were brothers who had moved from the Netherlands. They were partners in the firm that had become amongst the leading highway contractors within Ohio. The Ferwerdas' set out to make an equipment that will save their business and their livelihoods by inventing a unit which will carry out what had previously been physical slope work. This invention was to offset the gap left in the workplace when lots of men had joined the military.
The brothers initially invented an apparatus which had 2 beams set on a rotating platform, which was fixed on top of a used truck. They used a telescopic cylinder to be able to move the beams out and in. This enabled the fixed blade at the end of the beams to pull or push dirt.
The Ferwerda brothers improved on their first design by making a triangular boom to create more power. Next, they added a tilt cylinder that allowed the boom to rotate forty-five degrees in either direction. This new unit could 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.
Not a long time after, many 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 offered too.