You can recognize a Gradall by its distinctive telescoping boom. Built since the early 1940s, and produced in the same factory at New Philadelphia, Ohio, USA since 1950, the Gradall Company is alive and well today, building machines to serve a niche market. Its innovative boom, which rotates as well as telescopes, adds additional flexibility to the use of hydraulic excavators, allowing the Gradall to perform work beyond the capability of other machines.
Before the recent introduction of bucket rotary and tilt excavators with their many digging movements, the standard hydraulic excavator had only four: boom hoist, bucket arm, wrist action and swing. The Gradall boasts an additional bucket tilt feature resulting in five movements to be coordinated simultaneously by the operator. The regular bucket arm not only telescopes in and out like a hydraulic crane, but the carriage supporting the boom rotates longitudinally allowing the bucket to tilt left or right. Boom hoist, bucket wrist action and machine swing complete the five movements.
A skilled operator can master the five
