Abstract: A circular knitting machine for stockings, particularly for the manufacture of stockings closed at the toe directly on the machine, having a coupling joint for disengaging the lower needle cylinder from the upper needle cylinder or from the welt dial. The coupling joint consists of a substantially flanged element rigid with the shaft driving the lower needle cylinder and of a gear wheel mounted idly and axially displaceable on the shaft. The gear wheel engages with a corresponding crown gear for rotation of the upper needle cylinder or the welt dial. The flanged element and the gear wheel have means for mutual engagement and the machine further comprises means for the axial displacement of the gear wheel to disengage it from the flanged element, these means being responsive to the machine program.