Gradall Forklift Part - The Gradall excavator was the creation of two brothers Ray and Koop Ferwerda. The excavator was created In the 1940's through WWII, when there was a scarcity of workers. Partners in a Cleveland, Oakland construction company called Ferwerda-Werba-Ferwerda, the brothers faced a huge dilemma when lots of men left the labor force and signed up in the military, depleting available workers for the delicate finishing work and grading on highway projects. The Ferwerda brothers chose to make an equipment that would save their company by making the slope grading work less manual, easier and more efficient.
Their very first design model was a device with two beams set on a rotating platform which was affixed on top of a used truck. A telescopic cylinder moved the beams forward and backward that enabled the fixed blade at the end of the beams to pull or push dirt. Shortly enhancing the first design, the brothers built a triangular boom to add more strength. As well, they added a tilt cylinder which let the boom turn 45 degrees in either direction. A cylinder was positioned at the back of the boom, powering a long push rod to allow the machinery to be outfitted with either a bucket or a blade attachment.
Gradall introduced in the year 1992, with the introduction of the new XL Series hydraulics, the most ground-breaking adjustment in their machinery since their creation. This new system of top-of-the-line hydraulics enabled the Gradall excavator to provide comparable power and high productivity to the more conventional excavators. The XL Series ended the original Gradall equipment power drawn from gear pumps and low pressure hydraulics. These conventional systems effectively handled finishing work and grading but had a hard time competing for high productivity work.
The new XL Series Gradall excavators proved a significant increase in their lifting and digging ability. These models were manufactured with a piston pump, high-pressure hydraulics system that showed immense improvements in boom and bucket breakout forces. The XL Series hydraulics system was also developed with a load-sensing capability. Conventional excavators use an operator to select a working-mode; where the Gradall system could automatically adjust the hydraulic power intended for the job at hand. This makes the operator's whole job easier and likewise saves fuel at the same time.
When the new XL Series hydraulics reached the market, Gradall was thrust into the very competitive industrial equipment market that are designed to tackle demolition, pavement removal, excavating as well as several industrial jobs. The introduction of the new telescoping boom helped to further improve the excavator's marketability. The telescoping boom gives the excavator the ability to better position attachments and to work in low overhead areas.
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