Back in 1946, Wally Johnson began to create the markets for both the scaffold towers and aerial work platforms all by himself. He attained this by establishing a company that was referred to as UpRight. Mr. Wally Johnson was an extremely gifted mechanical engineer who hailed from Berkeley, CA. He stumbled upon access machines when he started looking for a a way to paint his house.
Mr. Johnson found it hard to search for capable scaffolding when he began a home painting project. Current scaffolding was not able to handle the uneven terrain on his land. After being really unsatisfied with his options, he decided to design his own aluminum scaffold tower along with adjustable legs.
In that same year, the Snorkel Company was founded in St. Joseph, Missouri. The company was responsible for introducing a revolutionary new elevating boom lift to the market. The machine was produced for rescue and firefighting work. In less than 20 years, the technology had developed into self-propelled boom lifts.
The first self-propelled lift was sold by Snorkel during the year 1977. This specialized 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 make 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 1980. At that time, the company UpRight Inc. was sold but his pioneering and inventive spirit lived on. During the year 1994, UpRight launched the first micro-scissor within the globe. They went on to pioneer the self-propelled mast lift, the TM12.