Wally Johnson, back during the year 1946, created the markets for both scaffold towers and aerial work platforms all by himself. He did this by starting a company that was referred to as UpRight. Mr. Wally Johnson was an extremely gifted mechanical engineer who lived in Berkeley, California. He stumbled upon access machines when he started searching for a solution to painting his home.
Mr. Johnson found it hard to search for capable scaffolding when he began a house painting project. Current scaffolding could not deal with the uneven terrain on his property. After being very discontented with his options, he decided to design his own aluminum scaffold tower together with adjustable legs.
In that same year, the Snorkel Company was founded in St. Joseph, Missouri. The company was responsible for introducing an innovative new elevating boom lift to the market. The machinery was produced for rescue and firefighting work. In less than 20 years, the technology had developed into self-propelled boom lifts.
In the year 1977, Snorkel sold its very first self-propelled lift. 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 industry and achieve worldwide dominance with his scaffold. Once he had accomplished this field, he decided to start all over and make the first self-propelled aerial lift in the world.
Mr. Johnson during 1972, opened a factory in Selma, where he produced 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 company`s main source of revenue.
During the year 1980, Wallace Johnson passed away, while the company, UpRight Inc. was sold at that time as well. Mr Johnson's pioneering and inventive spirit did continue to live on. During the year 1994, UpRight introduced the first micro-scissor within the globe. They went on to pioneer the TM12, that is the self-propelled mast lift.