Wally Johnson, back during 1946, created the markets for both scaffold towers and aerial work platforms all by himself. He did this by starting a business which became UpRight. Mr. Wally Johnson was a really gifted mechanical engineer who resided in Berkeley, CA. He stumbled upon access machinery when he started searching for a solution to painting his house.
When Mr. Johnson was embarking on his home painting project, he had a fruitless search for scaffolding that can deal with the uneven terrain that surrounded his house. After being very discontented with his choices, he decided to design his own aluminum scaffold tower together with adjustable legs.
The Snorkel Company was also founded the same year within St. Joseph, Missouri. This small business helped to revolutionize the new elevating boom lift. The machine 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 very first self-propelled lift. This specialized product line did not take long to become the main business for the company.
It did not take long for Wallace Johnson to catapult to the top of the business and attain global dominance with his scaffold. Once he had accomplished this field, he decided to start all over and make the first self-propelled aerial lift in the world.
During 1972, Mr. Johnson opened a new factory in Selma. There he produced the "Flying Carpet" scissor lift. After this new and exciting equipment 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 introduced the very first micro-scissor within the globe. They went on to pioneer the TM12, which is the self-propelled mast lift.