John Harvey was a Cornishman whose career started as a blacksmith and engineer at Carnhell Green near Hayle, in west Cornwall.
Harvey & Co. built up a reputation for world class stationary beam engines designed to pump water out of the deep Cornish tin and copper mines.
[2] Harvey's also produced a range of products, from hand tools to ocean-going ships including the USS Cornubia.
Harvey's of Hayle reached their peak in the early- to mid-19th century and then, along with the Cornish mining industry in general, suffered a gradual and slow decline.
The engineering works and foundry were closed in 1903,[3] although the company continued to trade as a general and builders merchant, eventually merging with UBM to become Harvey-UBM in 1969.