Back in 1946, Wally Johnson began to create the markets for the aerial work platforms and scaffold towers all by himself. He did this by starting a company which became UpRight. Mr. Wally Johnson was an extremely gifted mechanical engineer who hailed from Berkeley, CA. He stumbled upon access machines when he began searching for a solution to painting his house.
Mr. Johnson found it hard to search for capable scaffolding when he started a home painting project. Existing scaffolding could not deal with the uneven ground on his property. After being extremely unsatisfied with his options, he decided to design his very own aluminum scaffold tower along with adjustable legs.
During that same year, the Snorkel Company was established in St. Joseph, Missouri. The company was responsible for introducing a revolutionary new elevating boom lift to the market. The machinery was produced for firefighting and rescue work. In less than 2 decades, the technology had developed into self-propelled boom lifts.
The first self-propelled lift was sold by Snorkel during 1977. This specialized product line did not take long to become the main business for the company.
Wallace Johnson rapidly catapulted to the top of the business with his new scaffold. After he had accomplished this field, he decided to start all over and make the world's very first self-propelled aerial lift.
During 1972, Mr. Johnson opened a new factory in Selma. There he created the "Flying Carpet" scissor lift. After this exciting and new machine exploded onto the marketplace, the innovative product soon out-ranked the scaffolding component as the company`s main source of income.
Wallace Johnson passed away in the year 1980. At that time, the company UpRight Inc. was sold but his pioneering and inventive spirit lived on. In the year 1994, UpRight introduced the world's first micro-scissors. They went on to pioneer the TM12, which is the self-propelled mast lift.