Back during 1946, Wally Johnson began to create the markets for the aerial work platforms and scaffold towers all by himself. He did this by starting a company which was known as UpRight. Mr. Wally Johnson was an extremely skilled mechanical engineer who resided in Berkeley, California. He stumbled upon access machines when he started looking for a a way to paint his home.
While Mr. Johnson was embarking on his house painting project, he had a fruitless search for scaffolding which can handle 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 established the same year in St. Joseph, Missouri. This small company helped to transform the new elevating boom lift. The machinery was produced for rescue and firefighting work. In less than 2 decades, the technology had developed into self-propelled boom lifts.
In 1977, Snorkel sold its very first self-propelled lift. This particular product line did not take long to become the company's main business.
Wallace Johnson quickly catapulted to the top of the business with his new scaffold. After he had attained this field, he decided to start all over and invent the world's very first self-propelled aerial lift.
In the year 1972, Mr. Johnson opened a new factory within Selma. There he made 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 income of the company.
Wallace Johnson passed away in the year 1980. At that time, the company UpRight Inc. was sold but his pioneering and inventive spirit lived on. During 1994, UpRight launched the very first micro-scissor in the world. They went on to pioneer the self-propelled mast lift, the TM12.