(function($) {
  var cache = [];
  // Arguments are image paths relative to the current page.
  $.preLoadImages = function() {
    var args_len = arguments.length;
    for (var i = args_len; i--;) {
      var cacheImage = document.createElement('img');
      cacheImage.src = arguments[i];
      cache.push(cacheImage);
    }
  }
})(jQuery)

// call should look like this --
// jQuery.preLoadImages("image1.gif", "/path/to/image2.png");