Back in 1946, Wally Johnson started to create the markets for the scaffold towers and aerial work platforms all by himself. He accomplished this by establishing a company which was called UpRight. Mr. Wally Johnson was a really skilled mechanical engineer who lived in Berkeley, CA. He stumbled upon access machines when he began looking for a a way to paint his house.
While Mr. Johnson was embarking on his house painting project, he had a futile search for scaffolding which can handle the uneven ground which surrounded his house. After being extremely unsatisfied with his choices, he decided to design his own aluminum scaffold tower complete with adjustable legs.
During 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 equipment was produced for firefighting and rescue work. In less than 2 decades, the technology had developed into self-propelled boom lifts.
The first self-propelled lift was sold by Snorkel in 1977. This specialized product line did not take long to become the main business for the company.
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 create the world's first self-propelled aerial lift.
During 1972, Mr. Johnson opened a new factory within Selma. There he made the "Flying Carpet" scissor lift. After this exciting and new equipment exploded onto the marketplace, the ground-breaking product soon out-ranked the scaffolding component as the main source of revenue of the company.
Wallace Johnson passed away during 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 first micro-scissors. They went on to pioneer the TM12, that is the self-propelled mast lift.