Wally Johnson, back in 1946, created the markets for both aerial work platforms and scaffold towers all by himself. He accomplished this by establishing a business that became UpRight. Mr. Wally Johnson was an extremely skilled mechanical engineer who lived in Berkeley, California. He stumbled upon access equipment when he began looking for a a way to paint his home.
Mr. Johnson found it hard to search for capable scaffolding when he began a house painting project. Current scaffolding was not able to handle the uneven terrain on his property. After being really discontented with his options, he decided to design his own aluminum scaffold tower complete with adjustable legs.
The Snorkel Company was also founded the same year in St. Joseph, Missouri. This small business helped to transform the new elevating boom lift. The machinery was made for firefighting and rescue 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 particular product line did not take long to become the company's main business.
Wallace Johnson quickly catapulted to the top of the industry with his new scaffold. When he had accomplished this field, he decided to start all over and create the very first self-propelled aerial lift in the world.
In 1972, Mr. Johnson opened a new factory in Selma. There he manufactured the "Flying Carpet" scissor lift. After this exciting and new machine exploded onto the marketplace, the ground-breaking product soon out-ranked the scaffolding component as the company`s main source of revenue.
Wallace Johnson passed away during 1980. At that time, the company UpRight Inc. was sold but his pioneering and inventive spirit lived on. In 1994, UpRight launched the first micro-scissor in the globe. They went on to pioneer the self-propelled mast lift, the TM12.