A curious calculation

Puzzle

When the Great Eastern was launched and was attracting attention from its great size, a mathematically inclined lunatic who had been in the pin business discovered that if a pin were dropped into the hold of the Great Eastern, and on that day week a second pin, and on that day week four pins, and so on, doubling the number of pins each week, for a year, there would be at the end of fifty-two weeks, deposited no fewer than 4503,599,627,370,495 pins.
Allowing 200 to the ounce, the weight of the whole would be 628,292,358 tons, and to carry them all would require 27,924 ships as large as the Great Eastern, which was calculated to hold 22,500 tons.

References

• Loyd, Sam [1914]. in Loyd, Sam, Jr.: Sam Loyd's Cyclopedia of 5000 Puzzles Tricks and Conundrums (in English). New York: Lamb Publishing company, page 47.