Back during 1946, Wally Johnson started to create the markets for both the aerial work platforms and scaffold towers all by himself. He did this by establishing a business which became UpRight. Mr. Wally Johnson was a very gifted mechanical engineer who hailed from Berkeley, California. He stumbled upon access machines when he began searching for a a way to paint his house.
When Mr. Johnson was embarking on his home painting project, he had a futile search for scaffolding that could deal with the uneven terrain which surrounded his home. After being really unsatisfied with his options, he decided to design his very own aluminum scaffold tower complete with adjustable legs.
The Snorkel Company was also established the very same year within St. Joseph, Missouri. This small business helped to revolutionize the new elevating boom lift. The machine was made for rescue and firefighting work. In less than twenty 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 main business for the company.
Wallace Johnson rapidly catapulted to the top of the business with his new scaffold. Once he had attained this field, he decided to start all over and invent the first self-propelled aerial lift in the globe.
In the year 1972, Mr. Johnson opened a new factory in Selma. There he made the "Flying Carpet" scissor lift. After this new and exciting equipment exploded onto the marketplace, the innovative product soon out-ranked the scaffolding component as the main source of income of the company.
Wallace Johnson passed away in the year 1980. At that time, the company UpRight Inc. was sold but his pioneering and inventive spirit lived on. During 1994, UpRight launched the world's very first micro-scissors. They went on to pioneer the TM12, which is the self-propelled mast lift.