Back during 1946, Wally Johnson started to create the markets for both the aerial work platforms and scaffold towers all by himself. He did this by establishing a business that was referred to as UpRight. Mr. Wally Johnson was a really skilled mechanical engineer who resided in Berkeley, CA. He stumbled upon access machinery when he began searching for a solution to painting his house.
When Mr. Johnson was embarking on his home painting project, he had a futile search for scaffolding that could handle the uneven terrain which surrounded his home. After being extremely unsatisfied with his choices, he decided to design his very own aluminum scaffold tower complete with adjustable legs.
The Snorkel Company was also established the same year within St. Joseph, Missouri. This small business helped to transform the new elevating boom lift. The machinery 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 specialized product line did not take long to become the main business for the company.
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 create the world's first self-propelled aerial lift.
Mr. Johnson in the year 1972, opened a factory within Selma, where he produced the "Flying Carpet" scissor lift. After this exciting and new equipment exploded onto the marketplace, the innovative product soon out-ranked the scaffolding component as the main source of income of the company.
During 1980, Wallace Johnson passed away, while the company, UpRight Inc. was sold at that time too. Mr Johnson's inventive and pioneering spirit did continue to live on. During 1994, UpRight launched the first micro-scissor within the world. They went on to pioneer the self-propelled mast lift, the TM12.