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Now used worldwide, Gradall began at Lake Lucerne
(by Joan Demirjian - June 29, 2011)
Now used worldwide, Gradall began at Lake Lucerne
By JOAN DEMIRJIAN
In the 1940s, brothers Ray and Koop Ferwerda, immigrants from Holland, used their invention, a hydraulic excavator, to do site work around their new homes in Lake Lucerne in Bainbridge.
That machine was the Gradall, an excavator that is now used worldwide. Many area road departments use it to work on roads and ditches.
James Grant Sr., of New Philadelphia, has written a book, "The Gradall: A Story of American Ingenuity," on the history of the Gradall company. It covers its origination as the Gradall division of Warner and Swasey in 1946. There were Warner and Swasey divisions in Solon, where the departments of machine tools, electronic products and research were housed. Those operations closed in 1991.
The U.S. construction industry and Gradall Industries owe much to the work of the Ferwerda brothers, Mr. Grant said. In his book, he chronicles 62 years of the development of the Gradall hydraulic telescopic boom excavator and the company, Gradall Industries, that has produced and marketed the machine.
The Ferwerda brothers left Holland in 1920 for the United States when they were 20 and 21. They worked their way over as stoker hands on a freight vessel.
Their first job was at the Telling Belle Vernon milk plant in Cleveland. Telling Belle Vernon operated a large dairy farm in Russell Township.
In 1940, the Ferwerda brothers designed the first hydraulic excavator produced in the United States, called a sloper. They redesigned the machine with a telescopic wrist action at the end of the boom where an excavating bucket is located.
Ferwerda Brothers Contracting Co. contracted with major construction companies and worked at the Ravenna Arsenal in Portage County in the 1940s.
In 1943, they came up with a second machine which had the ability to do road maintenance and excavating. It was the Gradall, named by Ray Ferwerda's wife, and was used for construction and site preparation at their new homes in Lake Lucerne, which was just being developed as a private lake community.
They moved their families to Bainbridge after they rented an old garage in Beachwood in which to build their machine.
They did some roadway maintenance around the community lake as well with their Gradall.
From 1943 through 1945, the brothers built five machines that they used throughout Northeast Ohio on construction and railway road maintenance, Mr. Grant said.
Since 1948, the machines have gone beyond work in construction to uses in the production of steel and other metals, manipulating firefighting apparatus, maintaining railroad right-of-ways and for underground mining, he said.
Parallel with the history of the Gradall, the author talks of the history of Warner and Swasey. The company acquired the patent rights in 1945 for the Gradall from the Ferwerda brothers and in 1946 produced 10 of the machines.
Mr. Grant's book, which contains hundreds of photos, also recognizes Russell R. Atkinson, a South Russell resident, for his involvement in the building and management of a new 100,000-square-foot plant for the manufacture of machine tool and Gradall parts for the Gradall Division operations of the Warner & Swasey Co. in New Philadelphia. It is 10 acres under roof.
Mr. Atkinson, a manufacturing engineer, said he worked at the Warner and Swasey Cleveland plant in the 1950s, when the Gradall was brought in.
"The Ferwerdas were nice guys," Mr. Atkinson said. "They got a good living out of the Gradall after Warner and Swasey bought the patent rights."
Koop Ferwerda passed away in his mid-50s in Florida, and Ray Ferwerda died in the late 1960s, Mr. Grant said. The third generation of Ferwerdas now runs GS Equipment in Tampa, Fla., selling Gradall products.
Mr. Grant retired from Warner and Swasey in 2005 and started writing the book. "The Gradall is the most versatile excavating machine ever built," he said. "It's an icon in the industry it serves."
Bainbridge Road Superintendent Walter Rudyk said the Gradall machine has been essential to the department's operations. The department has had a Gradall for at least 20 years or more, he said. "We use it every day for cleaning ditches and drives."
Russell Road Superintendent Gene Layne said his department uses its Gradall every day on the roads as well.
The book is available on the Gradall website and at the Fireside Book Shop in Chagrin Falls, Mr. Grant said.
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