diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index 3af5843fe4..2ed327e7b9 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ members = [
   "examples/testing",
   "examples/request_local_state",
   "examples/request_guard",
+  "examples/sse",
   "examples/stream",
   "examples/json",
   "examples/msgpack",
diff --git a/core/lib/Cargo.toml b/core/lib/Cargo.toml
index 6249468ec5..282e87b734 100644
--- a/core/lib/Cargo.toml
+++ b/core/lib/Cargo.toml
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ all-features = true
 [features]
 default = ["private-cookies"]
 tls = ["rocket_http/tls"]
+sse = []
 private-cookies = ["rocket_http/private-cookies"]
 
 [dependencies]
diff --git a/core/lib/src/ext.rs b/core/lib/src/ext.rs
index 8813b74177..8124224665 100644
--- a/core/lib/src/ext.rs
+++ b/core/lib/src/ext.rs
@@ -1,18 +1,35 @@
 use std::io;
 
-pub trait ReadExt: io::Read {
-    fn read_max(&mut self, mut buf: &mut [u8]) -> io::Result<usize> {
-        let start_len = buf.len();
-        while !buf.is_empty() {
-            match self.read(buf) {
-                Ok(0) => break,
-                Ok(n) => { let tmp = buf; buf = &mut tmp[n..]; }
-                Err(ref e) if e.kind() == io::ErrorKind::Interrupted => {}
-                Err(e) => return Err(e),
-            }
+fn read_max_internal<T: io::Read>(reader: &mut T, mut buf: &mut [u8],
+                                  wouldblock_flush_signalling: bool)
+                                  -> io::Result<(usize, bool)> {
+    let start_len = buf.len();
+    let need_flush = loop {
+        if buf.is_empty() { break false }
+        match reader.read(buf) {
+            Ok(0) => { break true }
+            Ok(n) => { let tmp = buf; buf = &mut tmp[n..]; }
+            Err(ref e) if e.kind() == io::ErrorKind::Interrupted => {}
+            Err(ref e) if (e.kind() == io::ErrorKind::WouldBlock &&
+                           wouldblock_flush_signalling) => { break true }
+            Err(e) => return Err(e),
         }
+    };
 
-        Ok(start_len - buf.len())
+    Ok((start_len - buf.len(), need_flush))
+}
+
+pub trait ReadExt: io::Read + Sized {
+    fn read_max(&mut self, buf: &mut [u8]) -> io::Result<usize> {
+        Ok(read_max_internal(self, buf, false)?.0)
+    }
+
+    /// Tries to fill buf with data.  Short reads can occur for EOF or
+    /// flush requests.  With SSE enabled, a flush request occurs if
+    /// the underlying reader returns ErrorKind::Wouldblock
+    fn read_max_wfs(&mut self, buf: &mut [u8])
+                    -> io::Result<(usize, bool)> {
+        read_max_internal(self, buf, cfg!(feature="sse"))
     }
 }
 
diff --git a/core/lib/src/response/response.rs b/core/lib/src/response/response.rs
index 2c94342b9f..4638983cfc 100644
--- a/core/lib/src/response/response.rs
+++ b/core/lib/src/response/response.rs
@@ -1018,6 +1018,12 @@ impl<'r> Response<'r> {
     /// [DEFAULT_CHUNK_SIZE](::response::DEFAULT_CHUNK_SIZE). Use
     /// [set_chunked_body](#method.set_chunked_body) for custom chunk sizes.
     ///
+    /// Normally, data will be buffered and sent only in complete
+    /// chunks.  If you need timely transmission of available data,
+    /// rather than buffering, enable the `sse` feature and use the
+    /// `WouldBlock` technique described in
+    /// [Stream](::response::Stream).
+    ///
     /// # Example
     ///
     /// ```rust
diff --git a/core/lib/src/response/stream.rs b/core/lib/src/response/stream.rs
index f91d5beaff..e744660622 100644
--- a/core/lib/src/response/stream.rs
+++ b/core/lib/src/response/stream.rs
@@ -29,6 +29,30 @@ impl<T: Read> Stream<T> {
     /// # #[allow(unused_variables)]
     /// let response = Stream::chunked(io::stdin(), 10);
     /// ```
+    ///
+    /// # Buffering and blocking
+    ///
+    /// Normally, data will be buffered and sent only in complete
+    /// `chunk_size` chunks.
+    ///
+    /// With the feature `sse` enabled, the `Read`er may signal that
+    /// data sent so far should be transmitted in a timely fashion
+    /// (e.g. it is responding to a Server-Side Events (JavaScript
+    /// `EventSource`) request.  To do this it should return an
+    /// [io::Error](std::io::Error) of kind `WouldBlock` (which should
+    /// not normally occur), after returning a collection of data.
+    /// This will cause a flush of data seen so far, rather than being
+    /// treated as an error.
+    ///
+    /// Note that long-running responses may easily exhaust Rocket's
+    /// thread pool, so consider increasing the number of threads.
+    /// If doing SSE, also note the 'maximum open connections' browser
+    /// limitation which is described in the
+    /// [EventSource documentation](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/EventSource)
+    /// on the Mozilla Developer Network.
+    ///
+    /// Without the `sse` feature, a `WouldBlock` error is treated
+    /// as an actual error.
     pub fn chunked(reader: T, chunk_size: u64) -> Stream<T> {
         Stream(reader, chunk_size)
     }
diff --git a/core/lib/src/rocket.rs b/core/lib/src/rocket.rs
index 9a90f8bad3..d5d65e2a93 100644
--- a/core/lib/src/rocket.rs
+++ b/core/lib/src/rocket.rs
@@ -159,9 +159,12 @@ impl Rocket {
                 let mut buffer = vec![0; chunk_size as usize];
                 let mut stream = hyp_res.start()?;
                 loop {
-                    match body.read_max(&mut buffer)? {
-                        0 => break,
-                        n => stream.write_all(&buffer[..n])?,
+                    match body.read_max_wfs(&mut buffer)? {
+                        (0, _) => break,
+                        (n, f) => {
+                            stream.write_all(&buffer[..n])?;
+                            if f { stream.flush()? }
+                        },
                     }
                 }
 
diff --git a/examples/sse/Cargo.toml b/examples/sse/Cargo.toml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..56d93f9b0f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/sse/Cargo.toml
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+[package]
+name = "sse"
+version = "0.0.0"
+workspace = "../../"
+publish = false
+
+[dependencies]
+rocket = { path = "../../core/lib", features = ["sse"] }
diff --git a/examples/sse/src/main.rs b/examples/sse/src/main.rs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..c7bb4ae92b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/sse/src/main.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,79 @@
+#![feature(proc_macro_hygiene, decl_macro)]
+#[macro_use]
+extern crate rocket;
+
+use rocket::http::ContentType;
+use rocket::response::Content;
+use rocket::response::Responder;
+use std::io::BufReader;
+use std::io::Read;
+use std::thread::sleep;
+use std::time::Duration;
+
+#[get("/")]
+fn index<'r>() -> impl Responder<'r> {
+    Content(
+        ContentType::HTML,
+        r##"
+<body>
+<h1>Hi!</h1>
+
+<div id="spong">nothing yet</div>
+
+</body>
+<script src="script.js"></script>
+"##,
+    )
+}
+
+#[get("/script.js")]
+fn script<'r>() -> impl Responder<'r> {
+    Content(
+        ContentType::JavaScript,
+        r##"
+status_node = document.getElementById('spong');
+status_node.innerHTML = 'js-done'
+
+es = new EventSource("updates");
+es.onmessage = function(event) {
+  status_node.innerHTML = event.data;
+}
+"##,
+    )
+}
+
+const BUF_SIZE : usize = 4096;
+
+type TestCounter = BufReader<TestCounterInner>;
+#[derive(Debug)]
+struct TestCounterInner {
+    next: usize,
+}
+impl Read for TestCounterInner {
+    fn read(&mut self, buf: &mut [u8]) -> std::io::Result<usize> {
+        sleep(Duration::from_millis(500));
+        let data = format!("data: {}\n\n", self.next);
+        self.next += 1;
+        // `BufReader` won't call us unless its buffer is empty, and
+        // then buf will be the whole of the buffer, ie of size
+        // BUF_SIZE (due to the `with_capacity` call).  So `data` is
+        // definitely going to fit.
+        buf[0..data.len()].copy_from_slice(data.as_bytes());
+        Ok(buf.len())
+    }
+}
+
+#[get("/updates")]
+fn updates<'x>() -> impl Responder<'x> {
+    let tc = TestCounterInner { next: 0 };
+    let tc = BufReader::with_capacity(BUF_SIZE, tc);
+    let ch = rocket::response::Stream::from(tc);
+    let ct = ContentType::parse_flexible("text/event-stream; charset=utf-8").unwrap();
+    Content(ct, ch)
+}
+
+fn main() {
+    rocket::ignite()
+        .mount("/", routes![index, script, updates,])
+        .launch();
+}