Back during the year 1946, Wally Johnson started to create the markets for the aerial work platforms and scaffold towers all by himself. He did this by starting a business which was known as UpRight. Mr. Wally Johnson was an extremely skilled mechanical engineer who hailed from Berkeley, California. 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 began a house painting project. Current scaffolding was not able to handle the uneven ground on his property. After being extremely discontented with his choices, he decided to design his own aluminum scaffold tower complete with adjustable legs.
The Snorkel Company was also established the very same year in St. Joseph, Missouri. This small company helped to transform the new elevating boom lift. The machinery was produced for firefighting and rescue work. In less than 2 decades, the technology had developed into self-propelled boom lifts.
The very first self-propelled lift was sold by Snorkel in the year 1977. This specialized product line did not take long to become the company's main business.
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 attained this field, he decided to start all over and make the world's first self-propelled aerial lift.
Mr. Johnson in the year 1972, opened a factory in Selma, where he manufactured 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.
Wallace Johnson passed away during 1980. At that time, the company UpRight Inc. was sold but his pioneering and inventive spirit lived on. During the year 1994, UpRight introduced the very first micro-scissor within the globe. They went on to pioneer the self-propelled mast lift, the TM12.