Gradall started producing its famous excavator in the 1940's, during a time in which the second World War had created a shortage of laborers. This decrease in the labor force brought a huge demand for the delicate work of finishing and grading highway projects.
Ferwerda-Werba-Ferwerda was a Cleveland, Ohio based construction business which experienced 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' started to build a machinery which will save both their livelihoods and their company by inventing a unit which will do what had before been manual slope work. This invention was to offset the gap left in the workplace 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 attached directly onto the top of a truck. They utilized a telescopic cylinder to move the beams out and in. This enabled the fixed blade at the end of the beams to push or pull dirt.
After a short time, the Ferwerda brothers improved on their initial design. They created a triangular boom to create more strength. Then, they added a tilt cylinder which allowed the boom to rotate 45 degrees in either direction. This new model can be equipped with either a bucket or a blade 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 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 as well.