Back in the year 1946, Wally Johnson began to create the markets for both the scaffold towers and aerial work platforms all by himself. He attained this by starting a business that became UpRight. Mr. Wally Johnson was a really gifted mechanical engineer who hailed from Berkeley, California. He stumbled upon access machinery when he began looking for a solution to painting his house.
When Mr. Johnson was embarking on his house painting project, he had a futile search for scaffolding which can deal with the uneven terrain that surrounded his home. After being very discontented with his choices, he decided to design his own aluminum scaffold tower along with adjustable legs.
The Snorkel Company was also founded the same year in St. Joseph, Missouri. This small company helped to revolutionize the new elevating boom lift. The equipment was produced for firefighting and rescue work. In less than 20 years, the technology had developed into self-propelled boom lifts.
During 1977, Snorkel sold its first self-propelled lift. This specialized product line did not take long to become the company's main business.
Wallace Johnson quickly 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 first self-propelled aerial lift in the world.
Mr. Johnson during the year 1972, opened a factory within Selma, where he produced 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 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 the year 1994, UpRight introduced the first micro-scissor in the world. They went on to pioneer the TM12, that is the self-propelled mast lift.