chmod features: +RW?

[Dan Rue]

Hey, 

I searched the archives, but haven't seen anything regarding this.  

I am interested in a feature addition to chmod for the equivalent of +X
(Add x bit only if it's a dir), except for read and write (R and W?).

I'm not sure how useful W would be - but R would be quite useful for
allowing the reading and traversing of dirs without giving read
permission to the contents of the dirs.  

I know you can do this with a find - that's what I've done in the past.
I'm just wondering if this have been discussed, if it's a horrible idea,
etc.  

If it's a good idea, I'll gladly write a patch - just let me know who to
send it to.  If this is the wrong mailing list, let me know that too.  

thanks, 
dan