Back in 1946, Wally Johnson started to create the markets for the aerial work platforms and scaffold towers all by himself. He attained this by starting a business that became UpRight. Mr. Wally Johnson was a really skilled mechanical engineer who lived in Berkeley, CA. He stumbled upon access machinery when he began searching for a a way to paint his home.
Mr. Johnson found it hard to search for capable scaffolding when he began a home painting project. Current scaffolding could not handle the uneven terrain on his property. After being very discontented with his choices, he decided to design his very own aluminum scaffold tower complete with adjustable legs.
The Snorkel Company was also founded the same year in St. Joseph, Missouri. This small company helped to revolutionize the new elevating boom lift. The equipment was made for rescue and firefighting work. In less than 2 decades, the technology had developed into self-propelled boom lifts.
During the year 1977, Snorkel sold its first self-propelled lift. This specialized product line did not take long to become the main business for the company.
Wallace Johnson rapidly catapulted to the top of the business with his new scaffold. After he had attained this field, he decided to start all over and create the world's first self-propelled aerial lift.
In the year 1972, Mr. Johnson opened a new factory in Selma. There he created 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 company`s main source of income.
During the year 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. In the year 1994, UpRight launched the world's very first micro-scissors. They went on to pioneer the self-propelled mast lift, the TM12.