Back during 1946, Wally Johnson started to create the markets for both the scaffold towers and aerial work platforms all by himself. He did this by establishing a company which was known as UpRight. Mr. Wally Johnson was a really gifted mechanical engineer who hailed from Berkeley, California. He stumbled upon access equipment when he started searching for a solution to painting his home.
Mr. Johnson found it hard to search for capable scaffolding when he began a home painting project. Existing scaffolding was not able to deal with the uneven terrain on his land. After being extremely discontented with his choices, he decided to design his own aluminum scaffold tower together with adjustable legs.
The Snorkel Company was also established the same year within St. Joseph, Missouri. This small company helped to transform the new elevating boom lift. The equipment was produced for rescue and firefighting work. In less than 20 years, the technology had developed into self-propelled boom lifts.
In 1977, Snorkel sold its very first self-propelled lift. This specialized product line did not take long to become the company's main business.
Wallace Johnson rapidly catapulted to the top of the industry with his new scaffold. When he had accomplished this field, he decided to start all over and create the world's first self-propelled aerial lift.
Mr. Johnson during 1972, opened a factory in Selma, where he made the "Flying Carpet" scissor lift. After this new and exciting equipment exploded onto the marketplace, the ground-breaking product soon out-ranked the scaffolding component as the main source of income of the company.
Wallace Johnson passed away during the year 1980. At that time, the company UpRight Inc. was sold but his pioneering and inventive spirit lived on. In 1994, UpRight launched the world's first micro-scissors. They went on to pioneer the TM12, that is the self-propelled mast lift.