Gradall started making its well-known excavator during the 1940's, during a time wherein World War II had created a shortage of workers. This decline in the work 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 particular problem first hand. Ray and Koop Ferwerda were brothers who had moved from the Netherlands. They were partners in the company that had become amongst the major highway contractors in Ohio. The Ferwerdas' started to make a machinery which will save their livelihoods and their company by making a unit that would carry out what had previously been manual slope work. This creation was to offset the gap left in the worksite when lots of men had joined the army.
The brothers initially created an apparatus which had 2 beams set on a rotating platform, that was fixed on top of a used truck. They used 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.
The Ferwerda brothers improved on their initial design by making a triangular boom to produce more strength. Then, they added a tilt cylinder that allowed the boom to rotate forty-five 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 back of the boom. This design powered a long push rod and allowed a lot of work to be finished.
Not a long time later, many digging buckets became available 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 which was available too.