Wally Johnson, back in 1946, created the markets for both scaffold towers and aerial work platforms all by himself. He did this by establishing a business which was referred to as UpRight. Mr. Wally Johnson was a very skilled mechanical engineer who lived in Berkeley, CA. He stumbled upon access machinery when he started searching for a solution to painting his house.
Mr. Johnson found it hard to look for capable scaffolding when he started a home painting project. Existing scaffolding could not handle the uneven ground on his property. After being very discontented with his choices, he decided to design his own aluminum scaffold tower together with adjustable legs.
During that very same year, the Snorkel Company was established in St. Joseph, Missouri. The company was responsible for introducing a revolutionary new elevating boom lift to the market. The machine was produced for firefighting and rescue work. In less than 20 years, the technology had developed into self-propelled boom lifts.
The very first self-propelled lift was sold by Snorkel during 1977. This particular 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. Once he had accomplished this field, he decided to start all over and make the world's first self-propelled aerial lift.
During the year 1972, Mr. Johnson opened a new factory within Selma. There he created the "Flying Carpet" scissor lift. After this exciting and new machine exploded onto the marketplace, the innovative product soon out-ranked the scaffolding component as the company`s main source of revenue.
During 1980, Wallace Johnson passed away, while the company, UpRight Inc. was sold at that time too. Mr Johnson's pioneering and inventive spirit did continue to live 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.