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Littelfuse's story began in 1927, born from the ingenuity of Edward V. Sundt. Working in Chicago, Sundt, a man with a diverse background that included time as a Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer, frequently encountered electrical failures in diagnostic equipment. This frustration sparked an idea. He developed a small, fast-acting protective fuse designed to prevent sensitive test meters from burning out. With $150 from selling his Chevrolet, Sundt founded Littelfuse Laboratories in a modest second-floor room on Wilson Avenue, Chicago. The name itself was a clever workaround; when the U.S. government denied a trademark for 'Little fuse' due to the commonality of the words, Sundt simply reversed the 'l' and 'e' to create 'Littelfuse'.

The company's early years were marked by steady growth and adaptation. Initially focused on fuses for radios and other electronics, Littelfuse expanded its reach. By 1939, it established a new manufacturing facility in Chicago to produce fuses for the burgeoning automotive and aircraft industries. The 1940s saw further expansion to meet the critical protection needs of communications and aviation during World War II. As television sets became a household staple in the 1950s, Littelfuse astutely moved into producing television fuses, alongside new automotive switches and relays. The company went public in 1962 and, a year later, moved its headquarters to Des Plaines, Illinois. The 1960s also saw Littelfuse contribute to the space race, developing sub-miniature fuses for NASA. A significant development came in 1976 with the introduction of the Autofuse, the first blade-type fuse for automobiles, which quickly became an industry standard. Throughout the decades, Littelfuse continued to innovate and expand, navigating acquisitions and reincorporations, including becoming an independent public company again in 1991. Today, Littelfuse stands as a global manufacturing company with a broad portfolio of technologies in circuit protection, power control, and sensing, serving diverse markets including automotive, industrial, electronics, and medical devices. Headquartered in the Chicago area, the company has a significant global presence with numerous sales, distribution, manufacturing, and engineering facilities across the Americas, Europe, and Asia.