Back during 1946, Wally Johnson started to create the markets for the scaffold towers and aerial work platforms all by himself. He accomplished this by starting a business that became UpRight. Mr. Wally Johnson was a really gifted mechanical engineer who resided in Berkeley, California. He stumbled upon access equipment when he started searching for a solution to painting his house.
When Mr. Johnson was embarking on his house painting project, he had a fruitless search for scaffolding which could handle the uneven terrain which surrounded his house. After being extremely unsatisfied with his options, he decided to design his own aluminum scaffold tower along with adjustable legs.
The Snorkel Company was also established the very same year in St. Joseph, Missouri. This small business helped to transform the new elevating boom lift. The machine was made for firefighting and rescue work. In less than 2 decades, the technology had developed into self-propelled boom lifts.
During 1977, Snorkel sold its very first self-propelled lift. This particular product line did not take long to become the company's main business.
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 invent the world's first self-propelled aerial lift.
In the year 1972, Mr. Johnson opened a new factory in Selma. There he manufactured 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 revenue 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 self-propelled mast lift, the TM12.