sources . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . september 2015 learn how and when to remove this template message for other uses see helix disambiguation . helix type private industry stationery founded 1887 headquarters lye west midlands united kingdom area served worldwide products oxford parent maped website helix helix is a family run united kingdom based manufacturer of scholastic stationery . it currently when employs 75 people and exports to over 65 countries with offices in chicago and hong kong and with uk headquarters based in lye west midlands . contents 1 history 2 brands 3 administration 4 external links history edit helix was established in 1887 under the name the universal woodworking company ltd. ; it manufactured wooden rules and metal laboratory apparatus . in 1894 it patented the drawing compass and with it launched the helix brand following on from the initial success of the compass and rule . in 1912 the company s first mathematical set was created and in 1935 the brand helix oxford was launched . 1955 saw the company become known as the helix universal company moving its headquarters to lye where it is still based today . in the 1960s the name again changed to its current name helix international ltd. . helix is now part of the french owned maped group . brands edit helix splat and tribe fashion stationery helix oxford high quality mathematical instruments and stationery helix technical technical drawing instruments for older students and professional use administration edit on monday 23 january 2012 the company made the following announcement over the last few months the directors of helix have been working towards a financial restructuring with the aim of securing the future of the helix brand its business and employees . the administration is an integral part of this process and helix is continuing to trade in the short term as we hope to conclude a deal in the next few days in order to achieve our objective . we will of course keep you informed of developments as they occur . external links edit helix this article about a company of the uk is a stub . you can help wikipedia by expanding it . v t e retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title helix company & oldid 741622546 categories companies of the united kingdomtechnical drawingcompanies established in 1887united kingdom company stubshidden categories articles lacking sources from september 2015all articles lacking sourcesvague or ambiguous time from august 2016all stub articles navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 28 september 2016 at 17 32 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit organization . privacy policy about wikipedia disclaimers contact wikipedia developers cookie statement mobile view