The raceway between the inner and outer ring of an angular contact ball bearing has certain offset angle in the direction of the bearing axis.  It attributes that it is designed to carry combined loads.  The combined loads are the simultaneously acting radial and axial loads.  The offset angle between the raceway of inner and outer rings creates a contact angle, the greater contact angle creates greater axial loads carrying capacity.  The contact angle (α) is defined as the angle between the ball and the raceways at the radial plane.  The angle of ball and raceways draw a line which perpendicular to the bearing axis, where the load is transmitted from one raceway to another along the line.  Angular contact ball bearings are available in few different configurations, i.e. single row, double row, and four point contact ball bearings.