Back during 1946, Wally Johnson began to create the markets for both the aerial work platforms and scaffold towers all by himself. He did this by starting a business that was known as UpRight. Mr. Wally Johnson was a very skilled mechanical engineer who hailed from Berkeley, CA. He stumbled upon access equipment when he began looking for a solution to painting his house.
While Mr. Johnson was embarking on his house painting project, he had a futile search for scaffolding that could deal with the uneven ground which surrounded his house. After being extremely unsatisfied with his choices, he decided to design his very own aluminum scaffold tower together with adjustable legs.
The Snorkel Company was also established the very same year within St. Joseph, Missouri. This small company helped to transform the new elevating boom lift. The machinery was made for firefighting and rescue work. In less than 2 decades, the technology had developed into self-propelled boom lifts.
The very first self-propelled lift was sold by Snorkel in the year 1977. This particular product line did not take long to become the company's main business.
Wallace Johnson quickly catapulted to the top of the business with his new scaffold. Once he had accomplished this field, he decided to start all over and create the first self-propelled aerial lift in the world.
Mr. Johnson in 1972, opened a factory in Selma, where he created the "Flying Carpet" scissor lift. After this new and exciting machinery exploded onto the marketplace, the innovative product soon out-ranked the scaffolding component as the company`s main source of revenue.
Wallace Johnson passed away in 1980. At that time, the company UpRight Inc. was sold but his pioneering and inventive spirit lived on. In 1994, UpRight introduced the world's very first micro-scissors. They went on to pioneer the TM12, that is the self-propelled mast lift.