$.preloadImages = function() {
  for (var i = 0; i<arguments.length; i++) {
    img = new Image();
    img.src = arguments[i];
  }
}
$.preloadImages (
  "path_to_image_array",
  "path_to_image_array",
  "path_to_image_array"
);

// JQUERY WAY TO PRELOAD IMAGES
// DOES NOT NEED TO BE IN DOCUMENT READY
$.preloadImages = function()
{
  for(var i = 0; i<arguments.length; i++)
  {
      img = new Image();
      img.src = arguments[i];
  }
}
$.preloadImages(
"path/to/image/1",
"path/to/image/2",
"path/to/image/3"
);