from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Harvey process \Har"vey proc"ess\ (Metal.)
A process of hardening the face of steel, as armor plates,
invented by Hayward A. Harvey of New Jersey, consisting in
the additional carburizing of the face of a piece of low
carbon steel by subjecting it to the action of carbon under
long-continued pressure at a very high heat, and then to a
violent chilling, as by a spray of cold water. This process
gives an armor plate a thick surface of extreme hardness
supported by material gradually decreasing in hardness to the
unaltered soft steel at the back.
[Webster 1913 Suppl.]