"We didn't set out to build more platforms than our competitors ...just the best."

- Art Moore, President (1958-1990)

In 1958 Snorkel Fire Equipment Company was founded to market the Snorkel, a revolutionary new elevating platform designed for fire fighting and rescue work. In 1964 the facilities were moved from Grandview, Missouri to St. Joseph, Missouri. The Squrt articulated boom water tower and then the Tele-Squrt combination aerial ladder/water tower soon followed. These products set the standard for aerial fire fighting equipment that has endured the test of time.

In late 1971, the company was sold to ATO, Inc., which later became Figgie International, a Fortune 500 Company. The previous owners and founders of Snorkel Fire Equipment continued managing the division until their retirement.

In 1977, Snorkel entered the construction/industrial market with the first Snorkelift telescoping boom aerial work platform. Much of the advanced design technology and experience gained through the years of serving the fire fighting industry, including the use of aluminum telescoping booms, and state-of-the-art hydraulic and electrical systems were incorporated into this new product line. As a result, Snorkel's innovative equipment had a decided advantage over other companies entering the self propelled work platform market at about the same time.

Snorkelift machines quickly became the industry leader in terms of quality, low maintenance cost, greatest dependability and performance. Their resale value in the used equipment market is unsurpassed by any work platforms available in the world market. Each year new Snorkelift booms have been added to the product line giving the company the widest range of telescoping and articulating/telescoping booms from 37' to 126' ground to platform height models.

Figgie capitalized on an opportunity in 1988 to complement the Snorkelift product line by acquiring Economy Engineering Company, the world's leading manufacturer of self propelled scissorlifts and ground entry vertical lift work platforms. Economy's history dates back to 1901, manufacturing material handling and commercial elevating equipment. The first Economy scissorlifts were introduced in the late 1970's and quickly became the world leader in that portion of the work platform industry.

Figgie then merged their new acquisition with Snorkel to form Snorkel-Economy, the most complete manufacturer of aerial platform equipment in the world marketplace.

The addition of Snorkel Elevating Work Platforms (formerly Talon) in 1989 with manufacturing facilities in Levin, New Zealand and sales/service facilities in Sydney and Melbourne, Australia provided the added dimension of offering trailer mounted work platforms as well as quality distribution of the complete product line in Australia, New Zealand and Southeast Asia.

In 1995, we dropped "Economy" from our name - a smooth and successful transition had been made with the previous Economy customers. We had re-engineered the vast majority of Economy products and integrated them into the Snorkel product line. The name Snorkel represents the innovative engineering, quality manufacturing, and commitment to excellence which our customers expect.

In 1997 Snorkel became a part of OmniQuip International, Inc. Other OmniQuip Companies included Trak International and Lull Industries, Manufactures of telescopic material handling equipment and Compact Technologies who manufacture skid steer loaders, mini excavators and material handling equipment.

In 1998 Snorkel sold its fire and rescue aparatus product lines to American LaFrance, a subsiduary of Freightliner. This strategic move allowed us to focus all of our resources and efforts toward aerial work platforms.

In late 2002 a group of private investors including Al Havlin, Hank and David Bradley, Don Wagner and Miles Prentice purchased Snorkel from OmniQuip. This purchase included the facilities in Elwood, KS, Australia and New Zealand. Building on the strengths from the past, Snorkel remains a premier producer of a complete line of arial work platforms.

Our commitment to safety and proper operator and service training materials is very evident. In addition to operator training videos on all products, we are the first company in the construction/industrial aerial work platform industry to innovate a computer based, interactive, multimedia safety training program.

Consistent dedication to quality products designed and manufactured to the highest degree of excellence and value have guided Snorkel to a proud place in today's aerial work platform global industries.