Gradall began making its famous excavator during the 1940's, during a time in which the second World War had created a scarcity of workers. This decline in the labor force brought a huge need for the delicate work of finishing and grading highway projects.
Ferwerda-Werba-Ferwerda was a Cleveland, Ohio based construction business that experienced this particular problem first hand. Ray and Koop Ferwerda were brothers who had relocated from the Netherlands. They were partners in the firm that had become among the leading highway contractors in the state of Ohio. The Ferwerdas' set out to build a machine that will save both their business and their livelihoods by inventing a model which would carry out what had previously been manual slope work. This creation was to offset the gap left in the workplace when so many men had joined the army.
The initial apparatus these brothers invented 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 in and out. This allowed the fixed blade at the end of the beams to push or pull dirt.
After a short time, the Ferwerda brothers improved on their first design. They created a triangular boom to produce more power. After that, they added a tilt cylinder that enabled the boom to turn 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 done.
Numerous digging buckets were introduced to the market not long later. These buckets in sizes ranging from 15 inch, 24 inch, 36 inch and 60 inch buckets. There was also a 47 inch heavy-duty pavement removal bucket which was available as well.