The invention disclosed herein is related to Canadian Pat. No. 1,209,442, issued on Aug. 12, 1986 to Raymond Saint-Hilaire. In that patent, there is disclosed a heddle having a threading eye for the warp thread of a loom. The top end of the heddle is entirely free, so that a warp yarn can be inserted and moved down between two adjacent heddles. The eye has a laterally-opening slot which allows easy and rapid threading of the yarn or thread therethrough. There is further disclosed in the patent a harness frame characterized by a lower crossbar, which is straddled by the root portions of the heddles. The crossbar has a channel member to hold the heddles in place, and there is also provided a lock means to hold the heddles and channel member in operative position.
While the above patent is functional, the heddles are not suitable for use with conventional hand- or industrial harness frames. These heddles are made of two wire members secured together, in order to be sufficiently rigid, and the eyelet and lateral opening are formed by bending both wires. Therefore, the number of heddles per inch along the frame is rather limited.