Benjamin Briscoe founded the Briscoe Manufacturing Company in 1887. In 1903 he joined with Jonathan Maxwell to form the Maxwell-Briscoe Motor Company. In 1910 he organized the United States Motor Company, a short-lived aggregation of some 130 separate firms. He left United States Motor Company in 1912, and in 1913 organized the Briscoe Motor Company and the Argo Motor Company to manufacture cyclecars.