Like many other automobile manufacturers, Jonathan Dixon Maxwell got his start in the bicycle business, operating a repair shop with Elmer Apperson. He assisted Elmer Apperson and Elwood Haynes in building the latter’s first car. In 1903 Maxwell teamed with Benjamin Briscoe to organize the Maxwell-Briscoe Company, producers of a $500 two-cylinder runabout. Aside from his manufacturing accomplishments, Maxwell was an inventor of note, assisting in the design of the Oldsmobile and Northern automobiles and inventing the thermo-siphon cooling system. He served as vice president of the United States Motor Company before retiring from the auto industry in 1913.