Combs is a small village situated within England's Peak District National Park in Derbyshire. The name of the village is usually pronounced to rhyme with the word 'looms', although some locals prefer to pronounce the word to rhyme with the word 'phones'. One of the most well known residents of Combs is Herbert Frood, and his claim to fame is that he developed a highly successful vehicle brake pad which he commercialised through his company Ferodo.

Before settling in Combs, Frood was a travelling salesman who specialised in selling leather footwear such as boots of different types, namely work boots and boots for leisure wear. In those days people in Combs village and everywhere else in the world used horse drawn carts for many tasks such as farming and carrying things from one place to another. The brakes on these carts were a piece of wood bolted to the side of the cart. Using the piece of wood as a lever, the driver of the cart would pull one end of the lever and the other end would push against the metal rim of the wheel. The friction would make the wheel stop turning.

The Peak District has many hills, and Frood noticed that the cart drivers would enhance the braking power of the wooden levers by attaching an old boot to it. The leather of the boot would improve the grip of the lever against the steel rims of the wheels. This observation was playing on Frood's mind when he moved to Combs. He thought that if he could design a proper brake shoe device, in place of just any old shoe, it would help to improve the safety of the horse-drawn carts. This is where the modern-day term 'brake shoe' comes from, which is synonymous with the term 'brake pad'.

The development work for Frood's brake pads was carried out in a shed in his back garden in Combs. He tried cooking up various compounds in his shed which he hoped could be used to improve the grip of the wooden brakes on the carts. One of his compounds was made from bitumen and laminated horse hair. In the year 1897 Frood's work in his back garden in Combs was starting to pay off, and he was testing various prototypes. The prototypes were successful so he created a company called Ferodo which was based on his surname, and he was able to go into production. A couple of years later his Ferodo brake shoes had been fitted to 5,000 horse-drawn vehicles operated by the London General Omnibus Company.

By the year 1902 his brake shoes were available with asbestos linings which were harder wearing and therefore lasted longer. Ferodo was perfectly positioned for the beginning of motorised transport which was now beginning. During World War One Ferodo brake shoes were installed on British tanks. After the war the motor industry really took off, and Ferodo expanded to satisfy the demand, and extended its offering to produce friction linings for shipyards and mines, as well as for vehicles like trams, trains and aircraft. The company, which had modest beginnings in Combs, had become the largest manufacturer of friction linings in the world.