Back in 1946, Wally Johnson began to create the markets for both the aerial work platforms and scaffold towers all by himself. He did this by establishing a company that became UpRight. Mr. Wally Johnson was a really gifted mechanical engineer who hailed from Berkeley, California. He stumbled upon access machinery when he began searching for a a way to paint his home.
While Mr. Johnson was embarking on his home painting project, he had a fruitless search for scaffolding which could handle the uneven ground which surrounded his home. After being really discontented with his choices, he decided to design his own aluminum scaffold tower along with adjustable legs.
During that very same year, the Snorkel Company was established within St. Joseph, Missouri. The company was responsible for introducing an innovative new elevating boom lift to the market. The machine was made for firefighting and rescue work. In less than twenty years, the technology had developed into self-propelled boom lifts.
In 1977, Snorkel sold its 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 industry and attain global domination with his scaffold. After he had accomplished this field, he decided to start all over and invent 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 exciting and new machinery exploded onto the marketplace, the innovative product soon out-ranked the scaffolding component as the company`s main source of revenue.
Wallace Johnson passed away in the year 1980. At that time, the company UpRight Inc. was sold but his inventive and pioneering spirit lived on. During the year 1994, UpRight launched the world's very first micro-scissors. They went on to pioneer the TM12, which is the self-propelled mast lift.