Gradall started making its famous excavator in the 1940's, during a time in which WWII had created a shortage of workers. This decrease in the work force brought a huge need for the delicate work of finishing and grading highway projects.
A Cleveland, Ohio construction company referred to as Ferwerda-Werba-Ferwerda faced this specific problem first hand. Two brothers, Ray and Koop Ferwerda had moved to the United States from the Netherlands. They were partners in the company which had become amongst the leading highway contractors in the state of Ohio. The Ferwerdas' set out to build an equipment that will save their company and their livelihoods by making a unit which would carry out what had previously been manual slope work. This creation was to offset the gap left in the workplace when lots of men had joined the military.
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 used a telescopic cylinder to move the beams out and in. This allowed the connected blade at the end of the beams to pull or push dirt.
The Ferwerda brothers improved on their first design by creating a triangular boom to create more power. Next, they added a tilt cylinder that allowed the boom to turn 45 degrees in either direction. This new unit could 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 finished.
Not a long time later, numerous digging buckets were introduced 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 available as well.