was switched on, pressing onto the brake shoes and on the wheels of the cars via a lever rigging. At that time, it had not yet been recognized that track brakes should work independently of the friction between the rail and the wheel. In 1908, Mr. Jores took over the Westinghouse representation for track brakes in Germany and played a major role in their continuation. After World War I, Jores led the production of his own track brakes after the patent rights had expired. The track brakes were based on drawings taken from Westinghouse. They were manufactured until 1929 without any major changes. The main feature of the track brake at that time were the rail shoes, which were made of a special rolled section. In 1920, the Magnetic Brake Company, headed by Mr. M. Müller, entered the market with track brakes. Müller attempted to improve the track brake with new designs. For example, he replaced the profiled shoe with a pole shoe made of commercially available flat iron. Until then, track brakes had only been used for streetcars and thus for speeds of up to 40 km/h. At the beginning of 1930, the German Imperial Railways initiated a high-speed rail project that envisaged speeds of up to 160 km/h and was to be of great significance for the track brake. In 1931, Jores´ company was bought by Knorr-Bremse AG and the technical director Müller from the Magnetic Brake Company was convinced to join the company. Now, for the first time, the track brake for fast-moving vehicles was developed within the Knorr-Bremse company. In cooperation with the German Imperial Railways, the first tests were carried out with the "Flying Hamburgian". For braking, special brake pads with linings made of synthetic friction materials were used, which acted on brake drums and were attached to the wheel spiders. There was also an electromagnetic track brake available, which however was only to be used as an additional emergency brake. It became apparent that the pole shoe commonly used up to then was no longer able to cope with the demands of the high speed and the associated high level of heating. Hence the pole shoes were first slit, then divided and made from individual segments. This increased brake performance by 20%. The coil was now fixed to the core and then inserted into the box from the end face together with the core.