Since we're talking about calculating machines.
Has one of you read Asimov's "End of Eternity" ? It took me a while to figure out that a "computer" was actually a human being that worked with computing machines, not a sentient calculator...
Paul French is nice. A bit corny(?) perhaps, but it was made for TV, so...
Unintentional funny - in the first book he establishes the new name and the great gadget the hero gets from the aliens - just to never use either again...