Wally Johnson, back in 1946, created the markets for both scaffold towers and aerial work platforms all by himself. He accomplished this by starting a business which became UpRight. Mr. Wally Johnson was an extremely skilled mechanical engineer who resided in Berkeley, CA. He stumbled upon access equipment when he began looking for a a way to paint his house.
While Mr. Johnson was embarking on his home painting project, he had a futile search for scaffolding which could handle the uneven ground which surrounded his house. After being really unsatisfied with his options, he decided to design his very own aluminum scaffold tower complete with adjustable legs.
During that 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 produced for firefighting and rescue work. In less than 20 years, the technology had developed into self-propelled boom lifts.
The first self-propelled lift was sold by Snorkel in the year 1977. This particular product line did not take long to become the main business for the company.
Wallace Johnson rapidly catapulted to the top of the industry with his new scaffold. When he had attained this field, he decided to start all over and make the first self-propelled aerial lift in the globe.
During the year 1972, Mr. Johnson opened a new factory within Selma. There he made the "Flying Carpet" scissor lift. After this exciting and new machinery exploded onto the marketplace, the ground-breaking product soon out-ranked the scaffolding component as the main source of revenue of the company.
In 1980, Wallace Johnson passed away, while the company, UpRight Inc. was sold at that time too. Mr Johnson's inventive and pioneering spirit did continue to live on. In 1994, UpRight introduced the world's first micro-scissors. They went on to pioneer the self-propelled mast lift, the TM12.