The Leeds & Northrup Company traces its origins to Morris E. Leeds & Company, established by Morris E. Leeds (1869-1952) in 1899 to develop and manufacture precision instruments. On June 1, 1903 the firm was renamed when Morris Leeds took a partner, Dr. Edwin F. Northrup (1866-1940), a theoretical physicist.

The company's single most important early invention was the 1910 continuous recorder. During the First World War the company profited from the suspension of imports of German machine tools. While it remained small, the company had by 1920 become one of the nation's most important producers of precision measuring instruments. Before Morris Leeds' retirement in 1939 the firm had become known as one of the country's most innovative science-based companies as, it continually made substantial investments in research and development.

Morris Leeds was president of the Metal Manufacturers Association of Philadelphia, an avowedly open shop organization. Leeds was a believer in employee representation plans or company unions. In 1918 the company established a Cooperative Association to assume direction over social and recreational facilities and handle employee grievances.