Wally Johnson, back during 1946, created the markets for both scaffold towers and aerial work platforms all by himself. He attained this by starting a business that became UpRight. Mr. Wally Johnson was a very skilled mechanical engineer who hailed from Berkeley, CA. He stumbled upon access machines when he began searching for a a way to paint his house.
While Mr. Johnson was embarking on his house painting project, he had a futile search for scaffolding which can handle the uneven ground which surrounded his home. After being very discontented with his choices, he decided to design his own aluminum scaffold tower along with adjustable legs.
In that same year, the Snorkel Company was founded within St. Joseph, Missouri. The company was responsible for introducing a revolutionary new elevating boom lift to the market. The machine was produced 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 specialized 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. When he had attained this field, he decided to start all over and make the first self-propelled aerial lift in the world.
During the year 1972, Mr. Johnson opened a new factory within Selma. There he made the "Flying Carpet" scissor lift. After this new and exciting machine exploded onto the marketplace, the innovative product soon out-ranked the scaffolding component as the main source of income of the company.
In 1980, Wallace Johnson passed away, while the company, UpRight Inc. was sold at that time also. Mr Johnson's pioneering and inventive spirit did continue to live on. In 1994, UpRight launched the world's first micro-scissors. They went on to pioneer the TM12, which is the self-propelled mast lift.