Circular machine for hosiery and knitwear and process for closing an end of a tubular manufactured article directly on a circular machine

A method for closing an end of a tubular manufactured article comprising a plurality of consecutive courses, each in turn comprising a plurality of stitches, the method comprising:

• providing a circular machine comprising:
• at least one cylinder,
• a plurality of needles that are vertically arranged within the at least one cylinder, which plurality of needles are further arranged side by side to form a first semicircle and a second semicircle,
• a head, and
• one or more feeding stations that are configured to feed at least one yarn to the needles, wherein the needles are moveable in upward and downward movements to form the plurality of stitches of the at least one yarn, the tubular manufactured article during production being kept inside the at least one cylinder, wherein after the steps of producing the tubular manufactured article up to a last course of the plurality of consecutive courses, the method further comprises the steps of:
• a) extracting, by a turner arranged above and axially aligned with the at least one cylinder, the tubular manufactured article from the cylinder and turning the tubular manufacture article inside out so that the tubular manufactured articles outer part is on the inside and vice versa;
• b) collecting, by a transferring apparatus, from each needle of at least one half of consecutive needles of the needles the respective stitch of the last course;
• c) arranging the stitches of a half of the last course that were collected at step b) on corresponding needles of a second half of the needles, so that the needles of the second half of the needles carry pairs of stitches of the last course, which were arranged, at first, on opposite needles with reference to a diameter of the cylinder;
• d) positioning the tubular manufactured article inside the cylinder;
• e) feeding the at least one yarn to the needles;
• f) joining together the pairs of stitches to close the end of the tubular manufactured article, by processing the at least one yarn with the needles of the second half of the needles,
• wherein the steps a) and b) are reversible, and
• wherein the step f) involves the knitting of the stitches together, by processing the at least one yarn by part of the same needles that contributed to the formation of the tubular manufactured article, without using any specific needle or any linking or sewing device outside the circular machine, or otherwise combined therewith.