Gradall: An unusual machine with a long term history

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Digging deep into construction machinery news

Mon 06 Mar 2017

Gradall: An unusual machine with a long term history

These two young immigrants like many who followed in their footsteps, worked hard to establish themselves in a new country by finding building work in the local area. By 1925 they had become so well established that they started their own company the Ferwerda Brothers Construction Co. By the late 1930’s early 40’s the brothers had come up with an idea for a machine to help them on their various construction projects, that machine was to become known as the Gradall.

Following the ending of hostilities in 1945, the Warner & Swasey Co. of Cleveland made an agreement with the Ferwerda brothers to acquire the rights to use their Gradall patents to manufacture and market the Gradall. Warner & Swasey would make the Gradall a successful business operation and one that today runs as Gradall Industries.

You can read all about this modern day variant of a Gradall excavator (pictured below) at work in Finland in Eoghan Daly's report in the current issue of Earthmovers Magazine.

Check out this video which focuses on the Gradall Company’s history period during the 1950’s and 60’s.

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Gradall: An unusual machine with a long term history

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