The famous Gradall excavator traces its roots back to the beginning of the 1940s. During this time, WWII had created a shortage of laborers because most of the young men went away to fight the 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 faced this particular dilemma first hand. Koop and Ray Ferwerda were brothers who had relocated from the Netherlands. They were partners in the company that had become amongst the major highway contractors within Ohio. The Ferwerdas' set out to make an equipment that will save both their livelihoods and their company by making a unit that would perform what had before been manual slope work. This invention was to offset the gap left in the worksite when a lot of men had joined the army.
The first apparatus these brothers invented 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 enabled the attached blade at the end of the beams to push or pull dirt.
The Ferwerda brothers improved on their first design by making a triangular boom to produce more strength. Then, they added a tilt cylinder which enabled the boom to rotate 45 degrees in either direction. This new unit can 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 done.
Not a long time later, many digging buckets were introduced on the market. These buckets came in 15 inch, 24 inch, 36 inch and 60 inch sizes. There was additionally a 47 inch heavy-duty pavement removal bucket that was offered as well.