Gradall started making its well-known excavator in the 1940's, during a time wherein the second World War had caused a scarcity of laborers. This decline in the labor force brought a huge demand for the delicate work of finishing and grading highway projects.
A Cleveland, Ohio construction business known as Ferwerda-Werba-Ferwerda faced this specific dilemma first hand. Two brothers, Koop and Ray Ferwerda had relocated to the United States from the Netherlands. They were partners in the company that had become amongst the leading highway contractors in the state of Ohio. The Ferwerdas' started to make a machinery which would save both their livelihoods and their business by making a unit which would do what had previously been physical slope work. This creation was to offset the gap left in the workplace when a lot of men had joined the military.
The brothers first created a device that had 2 beams set on a rotating platform, that was connected on top of a used truck. They utilized a telescopic cylinder to move the beams out and in. This allowed the fixed 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 create more power. Next, they added a tilt cylinder that enabled the boom to turn forty-five degrees in either direction. This new unit could be equipped with either a blade or a bucket 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.
Many 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 additionally a 47 inch heavy-duty pavement removal bucket that was also available.