diff --git a/spring-messaging/src/main/java/org/springframework/messaging/simp/SimpMessagingTemplate.java b/spring-messaging/src/main/java/org/springframework/messaging/simp/SimpMessagingTemplate.java
index 7a56f05bb3..735d1f3c1a 100644
--- a/spring-messaging/src/main/java/org/springframework/messaging/simp/SimpMessagingTemplate.java
+++ b/spring-messaging/src/main/java/org/springframework/messaging/simp/SimpMessagingTemplate.java
@@ -64,6 +64,13 @@ public class SimpMessagingTemplate extends AbstractMessageSendingTemplate<String
 	}
 
 
+	/**
+	 * Return the configured message channel.
+	 */
+	public MessageChannel getMessageChannel() {
+		return this.messageChannel;
+	}
+
 	/**
 	 * Configure the prefix to use for destinations targeting a specific user.
 	 * <p>The default value is "/user/".
@@ -75,7 +82,7 @@ public class SimpMessagingTemplate extends AbstractMessageSendingTemplate<String
 	}
 
 	/**
-	 * @return the userDestinationPrefix
+	 * Return the configured user destination prefix.
 	 */
 	public String getUserDestinationPrefix() {
 		return this.userDestinationPrefix;
@@ -98,22 +105,14 @@ public class SimpMessagingTemplate extends AbstractMessageSendingTemplate<String
 	}
 
 	/**
-	 * Return the configured message channel.
-	 */
-	public MessageChannel getMessageChannel() {
-		return this.messageChannel;
-	}
-
-	/**
-	 * Specify the timeout value to use for send operations.
-	 * @param sendTimeout the send timeout in milliseconds
+	 * Specify the timeout value to use for send operations (in milliseconds).
 	 */
 	public void setSendTimeout(long sendTimeout) {
 		this.sendTimeout = sendTimeout;
 	}
 
 	/**
-	 * Return the configured send timeout.
+	 * Return the configured send timeout (in milliseconds).
 	 */
 	public long getSendTimeout() {
 		return this.sendTimeout;
@@ -194,6 +193,7 @@ public class SimpMessagingTemplate extends AbstractMessageSendingTemplate<String
 		}
 	}
 
+
 	@Override
 	public void convertAndSendToUser(String user, String destination, Object payload) throws MessagingException {
 		convertAndSendToUser(user, destination, payload, (MessagePostProcessor) null);
@@ -222,6 +222,7 @@ public class SimpMessagingTemplate extends AbstractMessageSendingTemplate<String
 		super.convertAndSend(this.userDestinationPrefix + user + destination, payload, headers, postProcessor);
 	}
 
+
 	/**
 	 * Creates a new map and puts the given headers under the key
 	 * {@link org.springframework.messaging.support.NativeMessageHeaderAccessor#NATIVE_HEADERS NATIVE_HEADERS NATIVE_HEADERS NATIVE_HEADERS}.
@@ -236,18 +237,15 @@ public class SimpMessagingTemplate extends AbstractMessageSendingTemplate<String
 	 */
 	@Override
 	protected Map<String, Object> processHeadersToSend(Map<String, Object> headers) {
-
 		if (headers == null) {
 			SimpMessageHeaderAccessor headerAccessor = SimpMessageHeaderAccessor.create(SimpMessageType.MESSAGE);
 			initHeaders(headerAccessor);
 			headerAccessor.setLeaveMutable(true);
 			return headerAccessor.getMessageHeaders();
 		}
-
 		if (headers.containsKey(NativeMessageHeaderAccessor.NATIVE_HEADERS)) {
 			return headers;
 		}
-
 		if (headers instanceof MessageHeaders) {
 			SimpMessageHeaderAccessor accessor =
 					MessageHeaderAccessor.getAccessor((MessageHeaders) headers, SimpMessageHeaderAccessor.class);
diff --git a/spring-web/src/main/java/org/springframework/http/converter/AbstractHttpMessageConverter.java b/spring-web/src/main/java/org/springframework/http/converter/AbstractHttpMessageConverter.java
index 5e095b58ff..25d5faf5c1 100644
--- a/spring-web/src/main/java/org/springframework/http/converter/AbstractHttpMessageConverter.java
+++ b/spring-web/src/main/java/org/springframework/http/converter/AbstractHttpMessageConverter.java
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright 2002-2013 the original author or authors.
+ * Copyright 2002-2014 the original author or authors.
  *
  * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
  * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ import java.util.List;
 
 import org.apache.commons.logging.Log;
 import org.apache.commons.logging.LogFactory;
+
 import org.springframework.http.HttpHeaders;
 import org.springframework.http.HttpInputMessage;
 import org.springframework.http.HttpOutputMessage;
@@ -169,11 +170,12 @@ public abstract class AbstractHttpMessageConverter<T> implements HttpMessageConv
 
 		final HttpHeaders headers = outputMessage.getHeaders();
 		if (headers.getContentType() == null) {
+			MediaType contentTypeToUse = contentType;
 			if (contentType == null || contentType.isWildcardType() || contentType.isWildcardSubtype()) {
-				contentType = getDefaultContentType(t);
+				contentTypeToUse = getDefaultContentType(t);
 			}
-			if (contentType != null) {
-				headers.setContentType(contentType);
+			if (contentTypeToUse != null) {
+				headers.setContentType(contentTypeToUse);
 			}
 		}
 		if (headers.getContentLength() == -1) {
@@ -182,10 +184,10 @@ public abstract class AbstractHttpMessageConverter<T> implements HttpMessageConv
 				headers.setContentLength(contentLength);
 			}
 		}
+
 		if (outputMessage instanceof StreamingHttpOutputMessage) {
 			StreamingHttpOutputMessage streamingOutputMessage =
 					(StreamingHttpOutputMessage) outputMessage;
-
 			streamingOutputMessage.setBody(new StreamingHttpOutputMessage.Body() {
 				@Override
 				public void writeTo(final OutputStream outputStream) throws IOException {
@@ -194,7 +196,6 @@ public abstract class AbstractHttpMessageConverter<T> implements HttpMessageConv
 						public OutputStream getBody() throws IOException {
 							return outputStream;
 						}
-
 						@Override
 						public HttpHeaders getHeaders() {
 							return headers;
@@ -256,7 +257,7 @@ public abstract class AbstractHttpMessageConverter<T> implements HttpMessageConv
 	/**
 	 * Abstract template method that writes the actual body. Invoked from {@link #write}.
 	 * @param t the object to write to the output message
-	 * @param outputMessage the message to write to
+	 * @param outputMessage the HTTP output message to write to
 	 * @throws IOException in case of I/O errors
 	 * @throws HttpMessageNotWritableException in case of conversion errors
 	 */