Back in 1946, Wally Johnson started to create the markets for the scaffold towers and aerial work platforms all by himself. He did this by establishing a business that became UpRight. Mr. Wally Johnson was a really gifted mechanical engineer who lived in Berkeley, CA. He stumbled upon access equipment when he began looking for a a way to paint his home.
When Mr. Johnson was embarking on his home painting project, he had a futile search for scaffolding that can deal with the uneven terrain that surrounded his home. After being extremely discontented with his choices, he decided to design his very own aluminum scaffold tower complete with adjustable legs.
The Snorkel Company was also founded the same year in St. Joseph, Missouri. This small business helped to transform the new elevating boom lift. The equipment 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 during 1977. This particular product line did not take long to become the company's main business.
It did not take long for Wallace Johnson to catapult to the top of the industry and achieve worldwide domination with his scaffold. When he had attained this field, he decided to start all over and create the first self-propelled aerial lift in the globe.
Mr. Johnson during 1972, opened a factory within Selma, where he produced the "Flying Carpet" scissor lift. After this new and exciting machine exploded onto the marketplace, the innovative product soon out-ranked the scaffolding component as the company`s main source of income.
Wallace Johnson passed away in 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 introduced the world's very first micro-scissors. They went on to pioneer the TM12, which is the self-propelled mast lift.