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inventor, industrialist, and entrepreneur. He is known for being the inventor of
brake pad Brake pads are a component of disc brakes used in automotive and other applications. Brake pads are composed of steel backing plates with friction material bound to the surface that faces the disc brake rotors.
Function
Brake pads convert the kin ...
s.
Early life
Frood was born in
Doncaster
Doncaster (, ) is a city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, it is the administrative centre of the larger City of Doncaster. It is the second largest settlement in South Yorkshire after Sheffield. Doncaster is situated in ...
, a town in the
West Riding of Yorkshire
The West Riding of Yorkshire is one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the administrative county County of York, West Riding (the area under the control of West Riding County Council), abbreviated County ...
, where he grew up. He was the oldest of four children. His father was Charles Trefusis Frood, born on 1 December 1827 in Surrey. Herbert Frood's training was not in engineering.
Career
Frood started the Herbert Frood Company in around 1905, having started in the engineering business in 1897. His company developed friction surfaces for vehicle braking systems.
Ferodo
Whereas other inventors concentrated on the means of placing pressure on the vehicle wheel in the braking system, Frood was one of the few to simply look at the type of material being used for contacting the wheel's surface - a more efficient frictional surface. He developed better brakes because of the inadequacies of (primitive) shoe brakes on the Derbyshire hills. After the success of his invention, Frood started a new company called
Ferodo
Ferodo is a British brake company based in Chapel-en-le-Frith in High Peak, Derbyshire.
History
It was founded in 1897 by Herbert Frood (1864-1931), with manufacturing starting in Gorton in 1901 and moving to Chapel-en-le-Frith in 1902. Fero ...
(based on the letters of his name, with an additional "E" which was his wife’s initial (Elizabeth).
His invention initially used solid woven cotton impregnated with natural resins for brake pads (friction linings). Later
phenol formaldehyde resin
Phenol formaldehyde resins (PF) or phenolic resins (also infrequently called phenoplasts) are synthetic polymers obtained by the reaction of phenol or substituted phenol with formaldehyde. Used as the basis for Bakelite, PFs were the first commerc ...
s were used.
Frood became Joint Managing Director of
Ferodo
Ferodo is a British brake company based in Chapel-en-le-Frith in High Peak, Derbyshire.
History
It was founded in 1897 by Herbert Frood (1864-1931), with manufacturing starting in Gorton in 1901 and moving to Chapel-en-le-Frith in 1902. Fero ...
with William Horrocks. On 21 January 1920, Ferodo Ltd. was floated on the
London Stock Exchange
London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange in the City of London, England, United Kingdom. , the total market value of all companies trading on LSE was £3.9 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St P ...
. Frood retired in 1927.
Personal life
In September 1918, Herbert Frood bought the well-known
Cat and Fiddle Inn
The Cat and Fiddle Inn is the second-highest public house in England, the Tan Hill Inn being the highest. In 2020, the outlet was sold to a distiller, who intend to open Britain's highest-altitude whisky distillery.
It is in the Peak District ...
(the second-highest pub in England, next to the source of the
River Mersey
The River Mersey () is in North West England. Its name derives from Old English and means "boundary river", possibly referring to its having been a border between the ancient kingdoms of Mercia and Northumbria. For centuries it has formed par ...
near
Shining Tor
Shining Tor is the highest hill in Cheshire, England. The summit has a maximum elevation of above sea level. It is in the Peak District, between the towns of Macclesfield in Cheshire and Buxton in Derbyshire, and is on the administrative boundar ...
). The pub was in danger of being closed, and Frood planned to build a garage next to the pub.
Frood was married twice. He had two daughters from his first marriage in 1893. He was married again on 21 April 1926 at Woodford church in Cheshire, by the vicar of
Poynton
Poynton is a town in Cheshire, England, on the easternmost fringe of the Cheshire Plain, south-east of Manchester, north of Macclesfield and south of Stockport. Poynton has formed part of the Cheshire East unitary authority since the ab ...
. From this marriage he had three children; a daughter Nida (b. November 1927), a son Herbert (b. 1930), and another daughter, Margaret born in 1931. He initially lived with his family on Manchester Road in
Buxton
Buxton is a spa town in the Borough of High Peak, Derbyshire, England. It is England's highest market town, sited at some above sea level.Grace's Guide