Wally Johnson, back in the year 1946, created the markets for both aerial work platforms and scaffold towers all by himself. He did this by establishing a company which became UpRight. Mr. Wally Johnson was an extremely skilled mechanical engineer who resided in Berkeley, CA. He stumbled upon access equipment when he started searching for a a way to paint his home.
Mr. Johnson found it hard to look for capable scaffolding when he started a home painting project. Existing scaffolding was not able to handle the uneven terrain on his property. After being very unsatisfied 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 within St. Joseph, Missouri. This small company helped to revolutionize the new elevating boom lift. The machinery was produced for firefighting and rescue work. In less than 20 years, the technology had developed into self-propelled boom lifts.
The very first self-propelled lift was sold by Snorkel in the year 1977. This specialized product line did not take long to become the main business for the company.
It did not take long for Wallace Johnson to catapult to the top of the industry and attain global dominance with his scaffold. After he had accomplished this field, he decided to start all over and make the very first self-propelled aerial lift in the globe.
In 1972, Mr. Johnson opened a new factory in Selma. There he produced 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 main source of income of the company.
Wallace Johnson passed away during 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 world's first micro-scissors. They went on to pioneer the self-propelled mast lift, the TM12.