Documents of FERODO LTD

The company has always been aware of the benefits of advertising and promotion. This is reflected in the archive which includes runs of press advertisements and publications, photographs of bridge advertisements and, from 1953 on, material relating to the Ferodo trophy.

Contents

D4562/1 Board of Directors

D4562/2 Agreements

D4562/3 Finance

D4562/4 Patents

D4562/5 Production

D4562/6 Works

D4562/7 Personnel and Staff

D4562/8 Research and Development

D4562/9 Sales and Publicity

D4562/10 Photographs

D4562/10/1 Building

D4562/10/2 Production, machinery and reseach

D4562/10/3 Marketing and advertising

D4562/10/4 Staff

D4562/10/5 Locality

D4562/10/6 Ferodo News

D4562/11 Press Advertisements

D4562/12 Publication Files

D4562/13 Ferodo Catalogue

D4562/14 Ferodo International Technical News

D4562/15 Ferodograms

D4562/16 Calendars

D4562/17 Promotional Material

D4562/18 Artwork

D4562/19 Press Release

D4562/20 Press Cuttings

D4562/21 Ferodo Trophy Files

D4562/22 Ferodo Trophy Photographs

D4562/23 Histories and Historical Notes

D4562/24 3-D items

These records were deposited in the Derbyshire Record Office in November 1996.

In 1897 Herbert Frood began his experiments into braking materials in a hut in the garden of his house in Coombs near Chapel-en-le-Frith. His patent for the improvement of brake blocks was filed in October 1900 and production began at Green Street, Gorton the following year. An increase in trade, largely resulting from a change in sales tactics - approaching the consumer rather than the manufacturer - led to Frood renting Sovereign and Howden Mills in Chapel-en-le-Frith in 1902.

Experiments in the use of asbestos began in the first decade of the twentieth century and by the outbreak of war in 1914 production of clutch linings and stair treads had started. The use of asbestos in Ferodo Ltd (as the Herbert Frood Company became in 1920) friction products led to the company joining the Turner and Newall Organisation in 1926.