Back in 1946, Wally Johnson started to create the markets for both the aerial work platforms and scaffold towers all by himself. He did this by starting a business which became UpRight. Mr. Wally Johnson was an extremely gifted mechanical engineer who hailed from Berkeley, West Valley City. He stumbled upon access equipment when he began searching for a a way to paint his house.
While Mr. Johnson was embarking on his house painting project, he had a futile search for scaffolding that can deal with the uneven ground which surrounded his home. After being really discontented with his options, he decided to design his own aluminum scaffold tower together with adjustable legs.
The Snorkel Company was also established the same year within St. Joseph, Missouri. This small business helped to transform the new elevating boom lift. The machinery was produced for firefighting and rescue work. In less than 2 decades, the technology had developed into self-propelled boom lifts.
In 1977, Snorkel sold its first self-propelled lift. This particular 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 achieve worldwide domination with his scaffold. After he had accomplished this field, he decided to start all over and make the world's first self-propelled aerial lift.
In the year 1972, Mr. Johnson opened a new factory in Selma. There he produced the "Flying Carpet" scissor lift. After this new and exciting machinery 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 during 1980. At that time, the company UpRight Inc. was sold but his inventive and pioneering spirit lived on. During the year 1994, UpRight launched the very first micro-scissor in the world. They went on to pioneer the TM12, which is the self-propelled mast lift.