Shedding apparatus for circular weaving of multi-harness fabrics and method of using the apparatus

A shedding apparatus for weaving of multi-harness fabrics in endless form comprising a reed, a warp beam, a plurality of heddle frames moveable up and down to produce a desired weave with each heddle frame being provided with heddle means adapted for each weave repeat to carry both a warp wire of the upper fabric half and a warp wire of the lower fabric half, a wire divider in the form of a rod extending across the entire fabric width between said heddle frames and said reed, said wire divider being positioned so that all the warp wires of the upper fabric half extend above the wire divider and all of the warp wires of the lower fabric half extend beneath the wire divider so that during weaving of one fabric half the warp wires of the other fabric half with be urged away from the shed by the wire divider, and means for raising and lowering said wire divider upon each change of shed so that said wire divider in its extreme upper and lower positions is disposed adjacent the border of the shed opening produced by the movement of the heddle frames so that said wire divider is raised during the insertion of a weft wire into a shed formed in the warp wires of the upper fabric half out of the shed and said wire divider is lowered during the insertion of a weft wire into a shed formed in the warp wires of the upper fabric half to shift all the warp wires of the lower fabric half out of the shed.