History
Few companies can trace their heritage back to the 1800’s. We are proud of our legacy and inherent tradition of combining a quality service with an innovative approach.
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Kell, Meats & Co founded
Kell, Meats & co founded to design and manufacture agricultural implements and machines in Ross-on-Wye. This company moved to Gloucester in 1904 and became Kell and Co limited.
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The British Carbonizing Company founded
The Carbon Casing Company was formed to design and manufacture hollow pebbles (Holpebs) as a means of improving the fine grinding process in cement mills. This was later absorbed into the British Carbonizing Company - which was producing steel tyre studs from drawn wire and was ideally suited to produce Helipebs which look like a square section coiled spring and were set to revolutionise the fine grinding of cement in the first half of the 20th century.
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Helipeb invented
The Helipeb was created as an improvement to the Holpeb to increase the surface area when grinding cement for improved performance. It stands for Helical Pebble and was patented around the world.
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Military tyre studs
When the first world war broke out, the British Carbonizing Company was requisitioned by the war office to make tyre studs for military vehicles which included this Lancheter armoured car.
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Robert McDougall joins the business
Our founder, Robert McDougall, whose career had been wholly in the cement industry, joined cement chemist William Fennell in 1915 at the British Carbonizing Company in Gloucester, which was then making steel tyre studs for the Ministry of Munitions, as well as Helipebs. At the end of the war Mr McDougall continued to run the company as he had been doing for some time past.
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Helipebs Limited is founded
Helipebs Limited is founded to acquire the assets of British Carbonizing and produce grinding media for the cement industry in Quay Street, Gloucester.
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Helipebs moves and acquires Kell & Co
Helipebs moved to Charles Street, Gloucester and acquired Kell & Co.Ltd, which had itself been founded in 1838, expanding into sub-contract machining and non-ferrous casting.
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Ball rolling introduced
Helipebs was the first company in the Western World to introduce a ball rolling process from the Soviet Union which produced 1" to 2" diameter balls for grinding products as diverse as coal, snuff, depleted uranium and ladies face powder.
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Helipebs Controls founded
Helipebs Controls is incorporated to manufacture valves for steam and naval applications. The first 4 employees all came from the British Arca Regulators on the current Sisson Road site.
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Sheffer partnership
Helipebs and Sheffer start their long lasting partnership, which is still going strong today, when Helipebs begin to manufacture Sheffer cylinders under licence in Gloucester.
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Helipebs acquire the current site
Helipebs acquires the 5 acre Sisson Road site (current location). This had been built at the turn of the century to manufacture chocolate making machines for Cadbury.
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Kell Foundry formed
Set up as a new business unit for bronze, aluminium and ferrous castings, which included Messerschmitt KR200 car spares, Gloucester city bollards, bronze sculpture and train parts.
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A new range of metric cylinders
Helipebs Controls introduce their market leading metric cylinder range which have been designed, tested and manufactured in Gloucester.
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Hydraulic systems
Following on from the success of the hydraulic cylinders designed and produced by Helipebs Controls, a division is successfully launched to design and manufacture hydraulic systems and intelligent actuation.
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Sale of grinding media business
Helipebs Limited exit the grinding media business with sale of assets to The Steel Ball Company to concentrate on the growing Helipebs Controls business. The photo shows a sculpture made entirely of Helipebs steel balls, named "What now" by Egil Bauck Larssen, which is on display in Chicago.
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Award winner
Winners of the Cotswold Life Manufacturing Excellence award.
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Strategic export development
As part of a long term strategic plan and in recognition of the increasing demand for high quality British engineered and manufactured products, Helipebs continues to expand into China & further across Asia.
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Queen's award
Helipebs Controls were delighted to be recognised for it's excellence in export by winning the Queen’s Award for Enterprise – International Trade.
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New product range
Helipebs identify a niche in the market for high quality, low volume welded cylinders and launch a new range of cylinders to meet this demand.
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Helipebs amongst the first to be awarded ISO 9001:2015 and ISO 14001:2015
As a reflection of both their best practice and continuous improvement, Helipebs becomes one of the first winners of ISO 9001:2015 and ISO 14001:2015.
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Fit4Nuclear granted to Helipebs Controls
As part of its growth plan, Helipebs Controls has successfully completed the rigorous processes that have allowed them to be granted Fit For Nuclear status.
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Helipebs Controls recognised for export growth
Ranked 62 on Sunday Times league table of Britain’s fastest growing exporters and in the top 25 for Gloucestershire.
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Helipebs recognised for Oil & Gas excellence
Winners of Best Oil & Gas Hydraulic Systems Manufacturer award at AI offshore excellence awards.
More About Helipebs
Established in 1969 and entirely British owned, Helipebs provides global businesses with quality, bespoke and standard solutions to today’s demanding hydraulic and pneumatic cylinder applications.