Wally Johnson, back during the year 1946, created the markets for both scaffold towers and aerial work platforms all by himself. He did this by establishing a company that became UpRight. Mr. Wally Johnson was a very skilled mechanical engineer who lived in Berkeley, Portland. He stumbled upon access machinery when he started searching for a a way to paint his home.
While Mr. Johnson was embarking on his house painting project, he had a fruitless search for scaffolding that could handle the uneven terrain that surrounded his house. 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 same year in St. Joseph, Missouri. This small business helped to transform the new elevating boom lift. The machine was produced for firefighting and rescue work. In less than 2 decades, the technology had developed into self-propelled boom lifts.
The very first self-propelled lift was sold by Snorkel during the year 1977. This particular product line did not take long to become the company's main business.
Wallace Johnson rapidly catapulted to the top of the industry with his new scaffold. Once he had attained this field, he decided to start all over and create the world's very first self-propelled aerial lift.
In 1972, Mr. Johnson opened a new factory in Selma. There he made the "Flying Carpet" scissor lift. After this exciting and new machine exploded onto the marketplace, the innovative product soon out-ranked the scaffolding component as the company`s main source of revenue.
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 very first micro-scissor within the world. They went on to pioneer the TM12, that is the self-propelled mast lift.